Finding a Family
by Albmag
Summary: Gideon Grey has always wanted a family of his own, but it's not like he can bake one. He might find one, or it might find him.
1. memories

Today was just another day for Gideon.

Like any other, he planned to get up, shower, get dressed, eat, watch the news and sigh.

The news was broadcasting the latest about zootopia, though, this time he just shut the TV off. No sense in watching what you already knew.

Besides, the only reason he ever had the thing on was to keep his mind off how quiet and depressing his own home was.

You'd have thought owning your own house would make you feel successful.

It did, it made Gideon feel so proud of himself, but it only feels great until you realize you have nobody to share it with.

His Pa n' Ma would've been proud of him, but there was no sure way to know. Pa was workin' on a truck under the hood, when a buddy of his turned the ignition, sparking the fumes all around him and inside his lungs. He died instantly, leaving his very pregnant wife a widower. He'd always heard of what an enigma his Pa had been, what with how his wife had to propose to him, on account of the fact his Pa was boisterous n' loud, yet terribly shy. Gideon's Ma always told him how much he looked like his Pa, always parting his fur the same way his son does now.

His Ma, on the other hand, was quite young. Reckon that had something to do with why his Pa was so shy 'round her. He was 6 years older than her, and felt embarrassed about that, and always "made a screamin' deal about it", as his Ma put it. "An old tod like me has no business chasing ya around, Cece!" she recounted to her little fox, accent and all. His pa tried to break up with her, to which she said "no" and proposed they get married, fast forward to the day she'd found out she was pregnant. His Pa was still trying not to faint ("still can't believe we did that!" he huffed)

Then one day he never came home.

Something he always admired about his Ma was the fact that she never let things bother her too much. Yes, she did weep when she found out, but whenever he'd ask if she missed him, she replied

"missing him won't bring him back, Gi-gi. And if you always focus on the bad in the world, that's all you will ever see. Now, be a good kit and help me with the kneading, please. This bread won't bake itself full of love!"

 _That was all he could think about when he was at the service for his Ma._

 _She had gone to the hospital when she was younger, and found out she was born with a heart problem and that she didn't have long. She decided to stay optimistic, for her little Gi-gi.._

 _Then, on his birthday, she went to her mother and father-in-law's to pick up a his present, sat down at the table, and just slumped over dead._

 _He always wanted to kick himself for being upset that she took so long. Had his grandparents know he was in the car, he wouldn't have had to sit for an hour, just… waiting._

 _she'd done this before, gone into somewhere saying she'd be a minute, only to take 60._

 _something felt off, though, so he got out to go see where she was, even though he was told to stay put._

 _He started to hear sirens coming closer, so he ran into the house, where he could hear somebody crying. A lot._

 _Was it grammamar? It sounded like her._

 _He went in through the back door, and walked into the kitchen, and there his Ma was, takin' a nap!_

" _Ma! I've been waiting for you! Wake up! Come on!" he shouted at her in his kit voice. She didn't move at all._

 _He walked over and tried shaking her, but she felt all weird. He was so angry, he kicked her chair._

 _She fell over on to her side on the ground, where she laid, with her eyes closed peacefully._

" _Ma?" Gideon started to whimper a bit. Where were Grammamar and Grampie?_

 _Gideon walked over to her, and tried shaking her again. And again. And again._

" _Oh my God! Gary, she brought Giddy!" his Grammamar sounded upset._

" _What's wrong with Mama?" Gideon croaked out, his eyes were starting to water up._

" _Gideon, come here, now!" she hollered at him and grabbed him around the waist and pulled him away._

" _No! No! No no no no!" he shrieked._

" _Gary, hold him down till the paramedics come!"_

Gideon was snapped out of his reverie by his teapot's shrill scream, and then he realized he shoulda' been getting ready, not thinking about the past.

He dried his eyes with a napkin, shut off the stove, and went to the bathroom to shower.

As he was stripping down, he stopped to look in the mirror.

 _I'm still young, only 24 years old. I doubt any lady would want a guy with a body like this, let alone a fox…_

Gideon stopped and mentally facepalmed "what AM I doin' lookin' at myself in my tighty whities? I need to hustle..." he grumbled to himself.

When he finally got out of the shower, he stood in front of the mirror with a little comb, parting his hair.

 _Jus' like Pa, or so Im told,_

he looked to the clock to see what the time was, only to find it was… 9:34?! He should've been done by 8:50!

Gideon ran to the front door, then stoped, "Where's ma shoes?!" he cried out

 _oh wait, I don't wear shoes!_

Gideon mentally smacked himself again as he ran to his van, and stuck the stupid key in the ignition.

Hopefully the Mr. H wouldn't mind, though gideon doubted it. He always had doubts, though they were mostly about himself.

 _Can this day be any worse?_ Gideon sighed, as he drove into town, he looked out the window.

He almost went off the road when he saw the black sheep that he'd bullied as kits.

Gideon had barely recovered, when he suddenly remembered that he also had a lil' crush on her. He was sure she wanted to crush him, though probably not in a romantic way.

Sharla is back? I guess things can get worse, shoulda kept my big yap shut!

 _Well, at least today isn't like any of the others..._

* * *

So this is my first Zootopia fanfic. let me know what you think. sorry for the dark parts, i just didn't like the whole "Gideon is always abused" thing. so i made it so they are all dead, which is better. I think. (Fun fact: Gavin, Gid's Pa, dies pretty much the same way MY real life Grandfather died. the situation was pretty much the same, except i was thirteen when he died. just thought you might wonder why his death was 'morbid'ish. that's why)

Gideon's family members: Gary/Grampie Rose/Grammamar Gavin/Pa Felicity/Ma

Hope you enjoyed.


	2. Old friends

before i get started, i had a butt load of errors in my first chapter. i am sorry for that. also, thank you for all the love for gideon. he deserves it.

* * *

Gideon pulled into the back of the bakery, and hopped out, feeling a little dizzy from this mornings events.

He took his keys out of his pocket and started fumblin' with the door.

He'd gotten it open, when a familiar voice piped up behind him "morning' Gid! How're you doin' bud?"

 _Travis? What was this, th' day all the people from ma kithood come back or somthin'?_

Gideon shuddered, _Hopefully ma' own family members don't come back,_ _that'd give foxes n' even worse rep. Not only would_ _mammals_ _think they_ _cheat the living,_ _but_ _they'd cheat death, too._

He turned to face his old 'friend' and was surprised to see Travis wasn't alone,

he had a smaller ferret holdin' his paw. "I'd just thought I'd drop in, say hello, pick up some things for the missus'" Travis winked and tilted his head towards the little ferret.

Gideon was confused, n' let Travis know "Who's this?" Gideon finally managed, trying not to sound too surprised.

He failed. Travis started chuckling, "Lemme introduce you both, Uncle Gideon, and my daughter, Lily. Lily, Gideon." he'd finally managed before starting to laugh again. "Bet you'd never had thought trouble makers like us would ever settle down, huh? Remember Charlotte?" "Charlotte Weasleton? Is that right?" Gideon wasn't surprised. they'd always been sweet on eachother.

"Yeah, her. Well, let's just say we've finally tied the knot. she's expecting again, too!"

He'd laughed again, possibly thinking about their past history. "we sure messed up a lot as kits..." Travis had sobered up, and looked somber.

Gideon realized Travis was thinking, so he let him be and crouched down to try to be at Lily's height. "Howdy, lil' lady. How do ya do?" He stuck out a paw, when she gasped.

"You talk like a sheriff!" she squealed. "A-ah guess? Do ya like sheriffs?" he asked, chuckling a little bit at her comment on his accent.

She raised her voice "Yeah, I do! I wanna be one when I grow up." _that sounded familiar. Cept' she ain't a bunny._

"Is that right? Well, ah do hope you make it." he said, putting on a thick drawl jus' for her. "So why'd you come ta th' back a' the shop, Travis?" gideon asked as he stood up to his actual height.

"Well, when I heard you had a bakery, I just thought I'd stop by, say hi and pick up Charlotte's favorite, but the place wasn't open yet! Thought you might be in the back getting ready to open up."

"oh, well come on in, you can just ge'cha somthin' for ya'self the lil' lady, too" as he swung the door open for them, and showed them to the front of the building so they could sit.

"Jus' make yerselves 'comfertable', while I ge'cha… wha'd ya say the missus' wanted agi'n?" he stopped before going into the back of the bakery.

"Cherry pie, just a slice. She's the only one that would eat it." he made a face at the word 'cherry', so did his daughter,.

"Yeah, it's gross! When I become a sheriff, nobody will be allowed to eat them!" she said sticking her tongue out. Travis looked like she just called a bunny cute,

"Lil', you can't just say something like th-" Travis started, only to be cut off by Gideon as _he_ started Guffawing, and smacked his knees, "Y-ya go right ahead n' do jus' that!" he managed, barely. _That sounds sort've like Judy!_

Gideon went into the bakery and took a slice of cherry pie, n' grabbed a few pastries too. Wrapped 'im up all nice, and brought them out to Travis and Lily.

Gideon hadn't really kept in touch with Travis, but things between them weren't bad, Travis just had to work.

Travis wasn't actually bad, he just followed Gideon's example, and it was a bad example.

Gideon still felt bad 'bout always getting Travis in trouble with his folks, and just for being a bully in the first place.

Still couldn't believe Travis didn't tell him he was gettin' married, let alone bein' a pa. _Wonder why?_

"hey Travis, how come ya' never told me about bein' married, or bein' a father? Seems like somthin' that you would've told an old friend." Gideon set their stuff on the counter, and took a seat.

"Ehh, I just thought you'd laugh at me. But then i'd heard you had a bakery, and I said 'what the heck', so here I am." he explained with a shrug.

"Is… is it only you working here? Like, your lady isn't working here?" he looked around the bakery, then at Gideon's ring finger. "Do you even have a lady yet, Gid?" he asked surprised.

"Naw, I've been working so much havn't had th' time ta wine n' dine any of bunnyburrow's finest. Not tha' they'd be linin' up ousside ma' place ta have me."

he waved a paw, as if waving the thought away. Though, the thought had been with him before. _Yeah, who'd wan' a no good, chubby, pie-makin' reformed bully?_

"that's too bad, bud. Maybe I could hook you up with a girl? I'd have to find one, but shouldn't be too hard!" he smiled wide and snickered.

"I'll marry him! I wanna marry him daddy!" Lily hopped down from her seat and ran over n' latched onto gideon's leg. "Please?".

While Travis was gasping from shock and slight dismay, an image flashed through his mind.

( _imagining his daughter grown up, married to Gideon wasn't exactly a good thing for him to think, but he did.)_

"I-I don't think that's going to happen Lily. You heard Mr. Grey, he's always _so busy,_ right _,_ Gideon?" he forced a smile onto his face and had a look in his eye that said

"If you say something that makes her cry you're going to be sorry. But not because of me, but because she'll cry. Oh my God, the crying. Please, make it stop."

Gideon thought he might as well comply, because if you need to be so fluent in eye contact communication, it's probably for a good reason.

Gideon bent over the side of the chair an' tapped her on the head. She looked up an' whined "Please marry me Mr. sheriff Grey. I can count to ten!" she said triumphantly.

 _There ya' go, ladies. If ya' ever wan' a man, that's how ya' do it._ Gideon laughed out loud, "is that so? Well, I kin' count to ten ma'self, n' higher, too. Thank ya' kindly for ya' offer, but no thank you. I also would put you to work in ma' bakery, where you'd make pies n' other things all day long, 'specially ma' favorite, _cherry pie!"_ he licked his chops n' rubbed his stomach.

She screamed n' ran back to her pa' "Daddy, I can't believe you almost let me marry that guy! Call the cops on him, he's loopy!" "Huh?!" Gideon and Travis made a collective sound of confusion.

"Uhm, that's enough visiting for today, I guess we're going home now. Thanks again Gideon. Wait, I almost forgot to pay you!" Travis pulled out his wallet, when Gideon held up a paw.

"S'okay, Trav. it's on the house, what with yer' wife expectin' n all" "C'mon, gid, I can't do that. Let me pay for the stuff we helped ourselves too, at least. Or should I say, Lily helped herself to."

Travis looked down at his daughter's face covered in crumbs and fruit with disapproval. She held up a dime, "Here you go Mr. Grey. Thank you for all the treats, too!"

"A dime? That's quite a lot. Are ya' sure that's not too much?" he winked at Travis, who looked wearily at the dumb dime. "yes, yes. it's enough. let's go Lily, come on!" Travis hurried his daughter.

he'd taken Gideon aside and whispered to him "thanks again, gid. You didn't have to do any of this, but you still did. And anybody that says you're no good? At least we know you aren't.

Your Gram and Gramp woulda been proud of you. And listen, if you don't find a lady, you're just might regret it. I thought I wouldn't, but ever since Lily was born, I've loved it, and them! Good luck, bud!"

Travis left the bakery with Lily holding onto his hand, when she'd turned and shouted "Thank you again Mr. Weirdo Grey! Byeee!" earning another laugh from Gideon, and scolding from her Pa.

Gideon went back in to the bakery, and sat at one of the tables. He didn't need to be open, but if somebody came by he'd serve them.

He'd just come by to make some pies for the Hopps family, and then he would deliver them.

But now he was thinkin' again.

 _Hm. I wonder what it'd be like to have my own kits. What would I name them? Would they look like me, or her? Whoever 'she' is._

 _Would ah' even be able to have kits? Some a guys can't. wouldn't surprise me if ah' couldn't nothing ever seems to go my way too much, if ever._

 _Would m_ _y kits even love me? W_ _hat's a good name for a boy kit? Gavin, Trevor,_ _or S_ _ilas? What if it's a girl? Aurora, Roxie, or Felicity? Would I only have one?_

 _'Would people tell them '_ _your pa was a no good loser as a kit, n' you prolly will too.'? serves me right..._

Gideon looked at the clock, then sighed. _Time to get to work_. He went to the 'closed' sign and flipped it around to say 'open' _._

 _Maybe I'll take Travis' word for it, and go try meet a certain lady after work._


	3. Truth

(okay, so this takes place after the whole "Judy and Gideon reunion" thing, because I don't feel like doing it. It's nice and all, but I'm pretty sure we've seen it enough to know two things:

1, Gideon is a bumbling cutie-pie, **no pun intended.** And 2, Judy figures out the whole night-howler situation. Yay. Also, found out why my grammar is so horrendous, it's cuz' of LibreOffice. The thing I use to write this. It likes to correct things when I type them a certain way, but then leave actual mistakes alone. Love this thing a lot, but I guess I'll need to fix it)

Gideon just stared after Judy flying down the dirt road. "What was she talkin' about?" he tilted his head n' raised an eyebrow in confusion. He wasn't the only one, he figured as much from the strange looks Bonnie n' Stu had given Judy before she left. "No idea! Why would she just left like that?" Stu shook his head in disbelief. "Well, whatever it was, it must have been important. Then again, it seems everything is important to her." Bonnie chuckled lightly. Both men nodded in agreement. "well, better get going Mr. H, Mrs. H. have a nice day." Gideon started towards the truck while wavin' to the couple. They both waved back to him, too.

"Stay out of trouble, son! And be careful!" Stu called out to him. "sure thing, Mr. H. and thanks again." was Gideon's reply.

"Oh Stu, do you have to talk to him like he's just a kit? he's a grown fox, he can take care of himself. Oh, and drive safely, Gideon! Have a gorgeous day, too." she'd called out, also.

"you tell me not to baby him, then you go and do it yourself?" he'd glanced at his wife with a look. "Oh be quiet, you, or you're going to have to help me with the laundry." was all Bonnie said.

Stu gasped, "You wouldn't! Would you?" he asked with his hands together and a hopeful look in his eyes. Bonnie smirked and rolled her eyes.

Gideon smiled at the conversation between the two, and started to drive off. He shuddered at the thought of having to do that much laundry.

Gideon was making his way to the bakery, he'd gotten an order for some cherry pies. He remembered the events from earlier today, and smiled again. Today was great.

He was supposed to deliver them to the 'McHorns' place on Portage road. He tried to remember who they were, but he didn't really care about that stuff as a kit, so he didn't know.

After he'd gotten on to the road he was looking for, he'd slow down at every upcoming house to read the number aloud. "4213… 4214… Here we go, 4215." he turned onto the driveway.

…

…

…?

This place… looks familiar? Maybe he'd ridden his bike past here as a kit?

It was a fairly sized house, brown brick with what looked like an' observatory in the attic, he could only assume that because there was a large window in the one place.

He'd parked, and had gotten out, looking at the house.

Observatory... Oh.

Oh no. This house. He now knew why it looked familiar.

His Grammama marched him up these steps to make him say sorry to some of the kids he picked on once.

 _Maybe if I just leave the pies, knock on the door n' make a run fer it, I won't have to talk to anybody._

Gideon placed the pies gently on the porch, knocked, and turned to leave, when the door swung open.

Gideon cringed. _If th_ _e writer wasn't kid-friendly, he might make me_ _say 'something_ _stronger than darn'_

"Pies are here! A female voice called out, then gasped in apparent shock. "Who...?" she asked. Gideon just turned around to face them. It was Sharla. _'something stronger than darn'._

"A-ah was jus' droppin- **ahem** dropping off the pies that were ordered. I'll be leaving now." he'd tried to avoid a conversation.

"Gideon?!" Sharla sounded more surprised rather than scared. "What do you mean 'dropping off the pies'?" she was now starting to sound a lil' worried.

"I-i need to go, have a nice day, ma'am." he turned and walked towards the van. Sharla only stared at him in a mix of anger, shock and fear.

Sharla was still standing in the doorway, when her mother had come up behind her. "Who was it, Sharla? Was it the baker with the pies?" her mother looked out and saw the pies, and picked them up to take them in. "They sure left in a hurry, whoever they were. Did you talk to them?" "Uh, yeah. I did. But… it was..." Sharla took a second to process this.

"It was Gideon Grey, Mama." she said quietly. Her mother looked a little surprised, "Oh, is that all? I wondered what he was up to now. Did he say if he baked them himself or not?"

 _Uhm, excuse me, mother, this was the tod that tortured me when I was little, or do you not care?_

Sharla picked what she said next carefully, "Don't you remember what… he did when we were kids?" "Hm?" "He tormented us, Ma! Gareth an' I!" "I know what he's done, Sharla, but I found out about something about him that made me… wait a minute." her mother pointed at Sharla's hand. Sharla looked at the fist she'd made, and opened it up to show the money…

She forgot to pay him. "Why didn't you pay him?" her mother questioned her. "I didn't mean to! I just was so surprised, and h-he..." Sharla knew what was next.

"You need to go give that to him. Go on, he doesn't have all day." "But ma, why are you sticking up for him?" Sharla was getting irritated. Didn't her ma care about her?

Mrs. McHorn sighed, "Fine. Close the door, Sharla. I need to tell you somethings I think you need to know about Gideon."

 _What? What does that mean?_ Sharla shut the door and followed her mother to the kitchen, and sat down at the table.

Her mother placed the pies in the pantry, then came back out, "Gideon… has had a really hard life. From what I hear, he has lost everybody he'd ever loved when he was just a child..."

* * *

Gideon's mind was a mess. _She hates me. What happened? I was able to tell Judy I was sorry, but I just got so… so… shy with Sharla._

He was never going to make up for what happened, was he? " _what do you mean, 'dropping of the pies'?, forgot foxes aren't supposed to have a normal job…_ this was the worst.

When he finally made it home, he didn't feel too great. His gut hurt like he had been punched there, not that he'd never been punched there before.

He made his way into the house, and just laid down on the couch, trying to get his mind off of the pain.

He drifted off soon after, into a dreamless sleep, still in pain.

Sharla was making her way to his house, because it was now 8:43, and she doubted that he was going to be at the bakery. Unless he was, then she was wasting gas and time.

Her mind was still winding about what her mother had told her. _His pa n' ma, both before he was even ten. I never knew, I just thought he was a big jerk!_

Apparently, her ma had said something to Bonnie about how some parents should teach their kit how to treat others recently, and used Gideon as an example.

* * *

 _Bonnie just blinked. "Eveline, it's not polite to speak ill of the dead, you know." "Dead?!" Mrs. McHorn raised her both her hooves to her mouth in shock, "Are you sure?" "Very much so. We only found out recently." Bonnie nodded sadly. "When did they pass away?" Eveline asked still in shock. "His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was 6. I used to wonder why he'd changed so drastically." Bonnie responded, getting back to her coffee. "How did nobody find out, that's usually something everybody in bunnyburrows hears about!" Eveline muttered, and reached for her coffee, "Because they were foxes, Evie. When it's them, nobody seems to care." Bonnie said quietly, emptying her coffee cup._

 _Eveline stopped, and put her hoof down. She wasn't in the mood for coffee anymore._

* * *

Sharla was pretty sure she was speeding, but she didn't care. Her ma told her everything she'd heard about Gideon, even the counseling his grandparents had to get him.

Now she could see why he'd acted that way. Not really, but losing a parent is hard, losing both is harder. she'd know, she was a teacher.

 _I can't believe how many of us were hypocritical. We treated him like a monster, and then we acted like we were in the okay._

Sharla remembered she'd called him "no good" once, too.

"His house was supposed to be on the next turn, if I'm lucky, he'll be here." Sharla thought aloud, making the turn. There it was, in all it's glory.

She parked, then took a breath. Got out of the car, and walked to the porch, and stopped to look around.

It wasn't messy, in fact, it looked boring. Big yards weren't much use unless you had a garden or had children, and Sharla was pretty sure Gideon didn't have either.

She let out the breath she'd been holding since she'd gotten here. It smelled wonderful.

She knocked.


	4. Chapter 4

Gideon was startled awake by the knocking at his door. _Who in th' world…?_ He glanced at the clock. 9:30. it was raining

 _When was the last time I'd ever had a visitor?_ Gideon was slow gettin' off the couch, cuz' he just woke up.

The knocking turned into pounding, so he hurried to the door.

When he'd opened it, he found a very chilled looking Sharla. Sharla.

"Sh-sharla? what're you-" he started, but was cut off, "You left without the pie money." she chattered through her teeth n' was clutching her shoulders.

She took a hoof off and pulled th' money out of her pocket, and held it out to him. "How long have ya' been out here?" he'd questioned her.

"a-about… t-ten minutes. I ne- need to get going..." Sharla turned to leave, when she felt a big paw grab her shoulder. She turned to face Gideon.

"I, in good conscience, can't let you go home in these conditions, ma'am. Come inside, please?" Gideon hoped to tell her what he'd told Judy earlier today.

That he was sorry for being a jerk, a **major** jerk. "Gideon, I'm sorry for being a jerk." Sharla whispered.

 _What?! that's my line! Whatever, Sharla needs to get warm!_ "Ooookay, you can tell me all about it, but first, come on in before you freeze, okay?" "K, 'kay"

Sharla looked bothered by something, but she came in anyways. "You have a very beautiful home, Gideon..." she looked around admiring it.

"Thank you, I inherited it from my granfolks. I've been keeping it up since their passing." he said quietly. he'd much rather have them than the house.

"you mean, it looks the same, before they passed?" Gideon nodded in confirmation. Sharla turned to him, "That's amazing! I can hardly maintain a garden, much less a whole house!"

they walked out to the living room, which was decorated, but not so much that it didn't look uncomfortable. In fact, it was probably the comfiest living room she'd ever been in.

Which is saying something. There was a fireplace, which had a few embers left in it. "You can do anything, if you put your mind to it..." she thought she'd heard Gideon mutter.

"I'd sit, but I don't want to get anything w-." Gideon cut her off before she could finish, "I don't mind. Sit wherever you want. Would you like some soup?" he asked before he walked over to the fireplace and got down on his knees. Sharla watched him grab logs and put them in to the fireplace, and start to stoke the fire. In a few seconds, they caught.

"No, thank you. Do you have any tea?" she walked over to a rather large arm chair with a floral design, and sat down. Comfy!

"I could make you some, sure." he got up from the fireplace and went to where she assumed the kitchen was. _Why doesn't he talk with his accent? Why ain't I?_

After a little while, he came back with a tray, and set it down. On it, were crackers and cheese, a metal kettle, a few tins of what looked like tea and two teacups on saucers.

"I always make my tea over the fire. Something about it makes it… feel better. Know what I mean? it's just one of those things." he thought aloud whilst putting the pot over the fire.

Sharla picked up a cracker, and tasted it. _Tastes fresh._ "Ya' don't need to act like this, Gideon. All… fake."

She watched him after saying this. He visibly tensed, and almost dropped the pot. When he'd hung it over the fire, he turned silently. "Sharla, look, I'm sorry for the way I was as a kit."

He'd started, but Sharla cut in "I know why, Gideon." she replied. He wasn't tense anymore, that's fer' sure. Now he looked down. Oops.

"I just don't know what I could do to make it up to you..." it sounded like years of regret had said the, rather than the fox in front of her.

"you can start by talking like you did before." Sharla offered. "B-but why would you want that? You don't think I would sound dumb?." he looked confused.

"An' just where did you read the load of bunk? Ah talk like that Gideon!" "Oh, yeah..." "ah' was happy ah' wasn't the only one that talked like that when we were small..." she admitted.

"...what? But you're **ahem** yer' so smart. Why would you want to sound like ya live in a Podunk?" "Again, what did you read that from?" Sharla questioned.

Gideon sat down across from her, in a brown recliner. "… when I was rethinkin' ma' whole life, ah was looking for… self-help books n' speech trainin'." he looked embarrassed,

"It's not really somthin' ah want ta talk 'bout..." he'd started twiddling his thumbs. "can I make a suggestion?" Sharla picked up another cracker and added cheese to it. "what?"

"Be yourself." she popped the cracker into her mouth. Gideon just stared. Then he looked at the fire. Sharla looked at his bright blue eyes. _He sure grew up, alright._

"Oh!" he snapped his fingers. "forgot the tea." he got up and took it off the fire. He walked back, and set the pot on the tray n' put the leaves in. He sat back down.

"You never took the money, by the way." Sharla was still holding it in her hoof. She placed it on the tray. "Thanks. So… what'dya mean when ya' said y'know why I was the way that I was?" he asked, not looking at her. _Why's he so shy?_ "I found out about… well, your kithood. How you pretty much lost everybody… this isn't too personal, is it?" she asked.

"with th' way ah' treated you, ya' can ask me anything.' he stopped, "nothing weird though, please." Sharla snorted, "don't worry, Gideon. Ah' won't."

Sharla cleared her throat, "So…. After my n' I family left to go to horsehollow, ah' never heard much about bunnyburrow. When did you… change? Why did you change?"

Gideon thought a moment, "golly, we were twelve…" he muttered, "grandpa had a had heart attack, n' the house needed payments. Gran couldn't make them by herself, n' ah' just…

it woke me up. Those were hard times, n' I was bein' selfish. Ah' promised her I'd try to do better. So… here I am. She passed away after buying the bakery. She was the one that pushed me to buy it." "I'm so sorry, Gideon." "S'okay. Nothin' you could've done 'bout it. Now I've got a question for you,"

he picked up the pot and poured Sharla some tea, then poured some for himself. "Okay, shoot." she picked up her teacup, and took a whiff of the tea.

"Chamomile?" she asked. "Yup. Figured you'd be going to want to sleep, so ah' picked somthin' without caffeine. Now, my question. what're you doin' back in bunnyburrow?"

he picked up a cracker with cheese, along with his tea.

"Ah' was back to see my grandmother. She hasn't been feelin' well, n' she's gettin' up there in age. she's the one that wanted the pie." sipped at her tea. _Still a little hot_.

"Oh. Well, ah' hope she feels better." "thank you, for everything. And Gideon? I'm sorry for all those things ah' said about you when we were kids. Even though what you did wasn't right, I was no better. I called you names because you were a fox..." Sharla looked into her cup of tea, wonderin' what his response would be.

"Oh. Okay. It's fine." he shrugged, "ah' got so used to it, I never noticed." he lied. _It hurt more when she said it, though, she actually acknowledged that it was wrong._

"I'm sorry too, for the whole bein' a jerk thing..." he was realizin' how nice her wool looked. "I forgive you!" she grinned. _I can't believe we just had a mature conversation!_

 _This is great!_ "Don't you need to get goin'?" Gideon looked at the clock, "It's twenty-past twelve." he looked back at her.

"What?!" she jumped up, and looked at the clock. He was right. "Ah' gotta go! Thanks again Gideon! She hugged him, and ran to the door.

 _She… she hugged me…_ "it's still rainin'. y-ya' can use my umbrella, it's near the coat rack, on the left." he called out, still blushin'

"Thanks! Goodnight!" she grabbed it n' waved goodbye before she ran out the door. She didn't have to leave, she was just having a hard time concentratin'.

 _Lord, you sure made a handsome fox. Amen._ She got in her truck and left, still flustered over hugging Gideon. _He probably thinks I'm weird for that._

Gideon had a dopey lookin' smile on his muzzle. He finished his tea, an' sat back in his chair.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad day, after all.

* * *

P.S. 'bunk' means nonsense. i know my stuff. also, sorry i took so long. i prefer quality over quantity when i write, but whatever.

thanks again,

-Beric


	5. Don't cry

Sharla walked groggily down the stairs to the foyer, wishing she hadn't woken up. She was having an amazing dream, too.

she'd dreamed she went over to Gideon's house, and he made her tea, then when it was time to go, he lent her his umbrella. She went into the kitchen, joining her mother and grandmother.

"did you have a nice time?" her mother didn't look at her, but Sharla could HEAR her smiling, "You were out so late, I stopped waiting and went to bed." her mother poured a cup of coffee.

"Wha- what do you mean?" Sharla yawned, and picked up an apple. Her mother sat down and looked at her with half-lidded eyes, "when you went to give him the money?" she wanted details.

"uhm, give it to who?" Sharla was confused now, looking between her mother and grandmother.

Her grandmother chipped in, "Your ma wants to know if you hooked up with Mr. Grey, isn't that right, Eveline?" her grandmother laughed lightly, but Sharla felt the air leave her lungs.

Her mother started coughing up her coffee, so she grabbed some napkins to wipe herself off. "Nana! You stay out of this!" her mother had another coughing fit, and covered her mouth.

"Grey? Gideon Grey? w-what're ya' talking about Nana?" Sharla questioned her grandmother shakily. _Uh oh._ _Maybe it wasn't a dream?_

"Your ma was telling me about how you went to his house to give him the money for my pie. My _delicious_ pie." she winked at Sharla, "And how she hoped he'd ask you on a little date."

Nana looked at Eveline, "Sorry, but she's the only other woman in this house, and I shan't keep secrets." Her mouth said sorry, but her eyes said ' _I_ _wanted two pies, so this is payback_ '

Sharla looked out at the foyer. There was his umbrella. "Oh, _yes,_ you should probably go return it to him. Now." her mother was still glaring at Nana, who was still smiling at her mother.

Sharla was, as you'd expect, a little angry at her mother for talkin' about her relationship status. She'd wanted grandbabies, and Gareth was still at college. So might as well push _Sharla_ for them.

"why do you always put your nose in my business ma?" she'd crossed her arms, waiting for her lame excuse.

"Because you need a mate. And he's single, and has his own business…" she started listing off all the 'reasons'. "...and you need to get out of the house. Honestly, you spend so much time **inside**!"

her mother looked at her pleadingly, "won't you at least date him?" she put her hooves together. "B-but… ah'… ah'm… not beautiful." Sharla usually ignored her mother's pleas…

But now she wanted her to try being with Gideon. How would any ewe in her right mind say no? "Don't even try that, Sharla. that's almost as bad as MY excuses, and I'm pretty much made of them!" Nana started to butter an English muffin, then nudged her, "When you tie the knot with that handsome tod, hook a sister up, would ya? I'd marry him just for free pies." she chuckled.

"What excuses, Nana?" Sharla's mother glared at her again, "You weren't lying about taking your medicine, were you?" she rested her chin on the fist she was making.

"Anything to get you to leave me alone!" Nana started to laugh, and then started coughing and hacking. When she'd recovered, Eveline still looked unamused.

"uh oh, run Sharla, save yourself!" her Nana warned her. Eveline stood up, and walked behind Nana. "I think you need some time out in the beautiful weather, don't you think so Nana?" Eveline asked, wheeling Nana outside, who started screaming. "Help! Heeeelp! she's going to try and make me be healthy! Save me!" she grabbed onto the frame of the back door, but Eveline swatted her hands. "Sh-sharla, I'm going to have PTSD now!" she started clutching her chest and groaning. "Oh, grow up Nana." Eveline rolled her eyes at her mother-in-law's antics, and wheeled her outside. _Ah' should take him his umbrella…_ great, now her Nana was pushing her to ask that 'handsome tod' out. Not that she was complainin' but whatever.

She got up and went upstairs, munching on her apple, to take a shower.

When she was done, she grabbed the stupid umbrella, went outside and got in her truck and left to go to work. she'll give it to him when she gets off, if he doesn't leave by then.

…..

Gideon was busy at the bakery today, as usual. Business was booming today for the fox, as always in autumn. There was something about that time of year where everybody had to have a pie.

And he didn't mind one bit. Though, it would be nice to sit in his living room in front of the fire with somthin' warm to drink in his paws. _Or with a certain ewe..._

"thank you Gideon, have a nice weekend!" Mrs. Tiller called out to the baker, snapping him out of the thought. "You too!" he called out, with a small wave.

 _I need to man up! Er, tod up? Whatever. I can't let bein' shy get in the way of tryin' to live ma' life! Next time I see Sharla, I'm askin' her on a date!_ He just needed to mention it casually, right?

So the rest of the day went without much to talk about, aside from the fact he sold enough baked goods to feed an elephant family, and then some.

When he was just finishin' gettin' done, the bell for the front door rang, indicating somebody just walked in. _who's here at this time? Somebody looking to get some dessert after supper?_

"Sorry, ah' was just gettin' ready to close up. Be with you in a minute!" he called from the kitchen, dusting the flour off of his apron. "that's okay, take your time." he barely heard their reply.

Sharla had actually been standing outside, waiting for a chance to be with him alone.

Annnnd because she felt flustered. The kids she taught at school had been spreading a rumor about her, and some mystery man in her life. Wondering how that could have happened, she asked.

* * *

She decided to ask one of the younger generations from the Hopps family, Madeline, because she was closer to Judy, and probably wouldn't lie to her. Hopefully.

 _Kinda weird how I'm teaching one of my friends siblings, if ya think about it._ After school, she stopped Madeline before she left. "Excuse me, Madeline, but do you mind telling me where you heard this… silly rumor about me?" she asked politely. Madeline shrugged, "I'm the one that started it," she turned to leave. _I hate kids._ She bit her tongue to keep from shouting.

"W-wait, where did you hear this rumor?" she asked trying not to lose her cool. The Hopps child turned around, groaning,

"Your mom called my mom, my mom blabbed to my older sisters, and it all trickled through one ear and out the other, until it went through mine. Happy? I've been repeating the same story ALL day." she said in a monotone voice, and turned and left. _My mother is going to DIE when I get home…_

* * *

So that's when she went to town, shopping for groceries and such. Well, now she was here, in the bakery.

She looked at all the baked goods, admiring the way they looked. The way the frosting looked like it glided onto the cakes from the sky, it looked so delicate.

The colors of the cupcakes, and the ripples on them, like dropping a pebble into a lake. And the pies looked like wood, with the light and dark browning on the crust, but peeking through the crust was fruit filling that looked like jewels. The pumpkin pie looked like it would warm you up just by eating it, with a distinct swirl of cinnamon in the middle.

She never felt so hungry before in her life, and these pie weren't helping. She looked away from the display case filled with all the beautiful creations, at saw his little logo.

 _It's adorable! I wonder if somebody made that for him… or… did he make it himself?_ She was still looking when he walked out.

He stopped, his smile wavered a little bit. _Whoa. Looks a little dressed up for gettin' a pie._ "uh, I'm sorry ma'am, what would you like?" he rested his arms on the counter.

She looked back at him, looking unamused, "ah' told you, you should be yerself', Gideon." she half-lidded. At this, he stood straighter. "Sharla?!" he looked her up and down.

She had glasses on, and underneath her dark brown coat she wore a button-up shirt and skirt. Not to mention she had her wool put up in a bun.

She looked like one of those proper women you see working in an office, not the country.

He couldn't believe her hadn't recognized her. Boy, did he feel kinda dumb. "Ah' din't recognize ya! You look good!" he gave a toothy grin. She felt weak from his comment.

When he realized his 'mistake', he started splutterin', "A-Ah' mean you- you look ni- nice like th-that..." he started fumblin' and lookin' everywhere but where she was standing.

She slowly placed a hoof on his paw, n' looked him in his bright blue eyes. "Thank you." she giggled, lookin' at him.

He gave a nervous laugh accompanied by another toothy. "Uh, ah' was about to clean ma'self up… sorry" he started to dust himself off. "It's okay. Do ya need any help getting cleaned up?"

she asked, looking around at the place. Usually, at the end of the day, a restaurant or something would need to clean up afterwards for the next day. Gideon misinterpreted the question.

He raised his eyebrow at her question, "Well, usually, people my age can clean themselves. Unless you think I'm incapable of taking care of ma'self?" he chuckled lightly, lookin' at her.

She looked back at him, scrunching up her eyes. "ah' meant the BAKERY, Gideon." she clarified. "Oh." "Yeah."

"Well, ah' don't think there's too much, but I can get it. You can sit down somewhere n' help yerself' to whatever you want." he offered.

"No, thanks. I'd much rather help you with cleaning. Ah' can't be eatin' all these… sweets…" she started, but her stomach told them both she was lying.

If she was embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to this. "You sure?" he grinned. "Fine, but I'll help you first, that way, I'll feel like I've earned it." she decided. "Deal" he nodded.

…

…

…

after moving chairs, sweeping, wiping down, refilling the display and filling the washing machine with all the much needed baking equipment, they sat down in a booth.

"so… heard any weird rumors lately?" she asked, before cutting into her pumpkin pie. He gave her a weird look, "Whaddya' mean, rumors? Like, gossip?" "Yeah." "I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff...

ma' Granpa said it was wrong. That only those too busy doin' nothin' did it. Why?" he picked up his blueberry tort, and buttered it a bit before taking a bit. _This still felt awkward, but not as much._

"Wise words." she grumbled, "Well… nothing. It was nothin'. don't worry." she waved it off. "Was it about you?" her asked knowingly, "people always talked 'bout me, so I know why you're bringin' it up. It is 'bout you, ain't it?" he asked, upset. He became even more upset when she nodded. _Who would talk 'bout somebody so nice…?_

"Well, d'ya know what they were sayin' ah'bout you?" he leaned closer a little bit, ready to hug her if she needed it. She looked up, and shyly answered, "It wasn't about just me. It was about…

my love life, and who's in it. I dunno, it just something ah'… ah' don't want people talkin' 'bout it!" she tried avoidin' the truth. _People think we're in a relationship…_

"Oh… well, why don't you take that to your boyfriend?" he asked, pretending to sound neutral, but inside he was hurt. _I knew she had a mate. Glad I didn't made things awkward for them…_

"Wh- what? Gideon, ah' don't have a boyfriend! They were talkin' about US!" she gasped and covered her mouth. He shot back in his chair, his ears and tail shot straight up.

"Wha?! Ah' don't! Huh?!" he never felt so insecure before. Not when he was a kit, not when he was a teen. Right now. "They're wrong, of course, hehe" she tried to laugh it off.

 _I need to tell her…_ Gideon blinked. And then again. "Buh- but ah' do… ah'… li-like..." he stood up and walked away from her. "Ah' do like you..." he whispered. "What?" she hadn't heard.

"N-nothin'. Just ignore them. We both know the truth, n' that's all that matters." he turned around. _Dangit…_

she smiled, "yeah, we know the truth… don't you need to finish up in here?" she asked, trying to end this uncomfortable conversation. _Ah' need to tell him…_

"Y-yeah. Better get finish up in here… looked like it'll rain tonight. don't want to slip on the roads." he looked out the window of the front of the bakery.

"speakin' of rain, I came by to give you're umbrella back. Thanks again for lettin' me borrow it." she finally held it out to him. _Whoops, forgot I lent it to her._ He took it from her, and thanked her.

"thanks again, Gideon. Goodnight." she waved. He returned the gesture, and locked the door behind her, and turned on the radio for music while he finished up.

Gideon had started to put his baking pans away, but then he felt… empty. All his life, he had people come and go, but did he ever do anything that made them stay?

He knew their deaths weren't his fault, but Sharla… he could've done somthin' to make her stay… said somthin'… but what? He couldn't tell her that he liked her, she might get scared.

He was at a loss. He went to put up the chairs so he could mop. There was a brown coat on one of the chairs. _Brown coat. Sharla's coat._

He picked it up, and looked out the window. He could still see her. She had parked on the other side of the road, and had been waiting to cross. He ran out to give her the coat back.

It was raining. She was halfway through the crosswalk. A car was approaching at an alarmingly quick rate. She didn't see the car. _Not this time, no. I don't think so_ Gideon thought as he ran.

He pushed her out of the way. The car hit him, finally coming to a stop. Sharla looked looked up to see Gideon and the car. She screamed his name out loud, asking if he was alright.

The driver called an ambulance. To Sharla, everything was lost, like tears in a puddle. She crawled towards his body, and hugged him close, "A-at least yer okay..." she heard him whisper.

"Why?" she whispered back. He put his arm around her, "of all the people ah' love that… that have died… yer' the only one… I could've saved. So ah' did…" he smiled at her.

He passed out, with that smile. The ambulance came and took them both…

…

…

…

" **thank you for listening tonight everybody! That song was 'I look up as it rains.' by Kyu Skunkomoto! And next, Gazelle's number one hit, 'Try everything'!"**

The radio droned on.

* * *

If this chapter makes you upset, I'm sorry. also, he ain't dead. somebody that cute and cuddly can't die. because i say so.  
the grandma is supposed to be like mulan's grandma. thumbs up if you caught that.  
the song fit into this (kinda) so that's why i put it in there. it was really popular back in the sixties. but i was only born in da 90's.


	6. Smiles and tears also, undies

sorry if this one felt rushed, i've been trying to keep a steady stream of content, so that i don't need to go on hiatus or something. cuz' i'm a procrastinator.

* * *

Sharla woke up, gasping and clutching for Gideon, the accident still fresh in her mind. It felt like it happened yesterday… what day was it today, anyways? Where was she?

She looked around. White everywhere. Looked like a hospital. "Finally awake, I see?"

She looked to where the voice came from. It was a ram, wearing a white coat, and a wolf with a nurse's outfit on. The ram was handsome, and the wolf was beautiful.

"How long have I been here?" she asked, afraid of the answer. He just laughed, "Don't worry, it's not like you went into a coma, or anything. It's only been 5 hours, give or take." he grinned.

"O-oh… I wasn't the only one brought in, right? There was a fox, wasn't there?" _I need to see Gideon…_

"ah, yes, a Mr. Grey. He was brought in, though, he might be asleep. Wont be able to see him if he is. I am Sorry." he cleared his throat.

"his injuries were a little more severe, compared to yours." he added quickly.

"I… I see. Has anybody come to see me?" she sat up in the hospital bed, and leaned on her elbow. Just then, his pager went off. When he looked at what he said, he shot up.

"I'm so very sorry, but somebody has just come in, and I need to check up on them! Rose, stay here and run a check-up on the patient!" he ordered to the wolf, who nodded as he ran out the door.

Sharla looked over at Rose, who smiled at her, "Sorry we had to meet under such… unhappy circumstances. When you were brought in, you were only a little bruised,"

She stopped to write something on a clipboard, and then continued, "you weren't as badly hurt as your _beaux_. If only my husband were that fearless…" she sighed.

"My what?" Sharla didn't know what language it was, but could tell it was a term of endearment. "Your _beaux,_ the fox that was brought in with you last night." Rose replied with a little smile.

"W-we aren't a thing..." Sharla replied embarrassed. "You asked where he was before asking about family. He must mean something special to you. I can see why, he is quite handsome."

"I thought you were married?" "I am. That old ram is my husband. Maybe I shouldn't say old? I am, after all, older than he is." she laughed, and went back to checking Sharla over.

"how long have you been married?" Sharla tried to get the conversation off of her and Gideon. "ten years. We have four boys." she wrote on the clipboard again,

"But back to you. If you don't love him that way, why did you toss and turn most of the night calling out his name?" she looked at her knowingly.

Sharla felt embarrassed at the thought of calling out for Gideon. They both were silent for a while, except for a question here or there about how Sharla felt. Rose finally broke the silence,

"look, I'm going to be blunt with you, if that's all right. You love him. He loves you. Why would he almost get himself killed over a coat? Besides, you weren't the only one talking. Except he was awake. When we first brought him in, he was out cold. After we had put a cast on his broken arm, he had woken up, asking about a certain dark-woolen ewe." she tilted her head and smiled.

That caught Sharla's attention. "He was talkin' about me?" she couldn't believe it, but why would a nurse lie to her?

Rose pinched her snout, "look, you're a beautiful young ewe, he's a handsome young tod. Give me one _real_ good reason you won't admit you care about him." she put her paws on her hips.

Rose had a point. Gideon was a gentleman/fox ever since she met him that one fateful day. Now that she thought about it, the stutterin', the twidllin' and the goofy smiles? It made sense now.

 _He also saved your life_ , a little voice echoed in the back of her head. _Oh yeah._ "… he does care about me… that doesn't mean he loves me!" Rose frowned at this.

After a little while, she clapped her paws together "finally! You can leave now. Also, I think you should know that I am also a registered mid-wife." she started grinning mischievously.

"Why's that?" Sharla was a little scared to find out. Rose sighed dramatically, and waved her paw, "oh, well usually when a couple is expecting kits, they should plan which hospital to-"

"What?!" Sharla grabbed the edge of the bed. She got out of the bed to leave. "Thank you, goodbye." she mumbled darkly.

"I'm just teasing! Would you like some advice about men, anyways?" she started laughing at how flustered Sharla got. Sharla left the room.

Rose started to clean the bed off, "Oh, to be young again. Maybe I shouldn't have teased her so much…?" she sighed, and finished with her work.

While she was walking down the hall, she heard people shouting about the patient that had just come in. she felt sorry for whoever it was, and their family.

To rush to the hospital at this hour? _Wait. What time was it?_ Sharla looked at a digital analog clock hybrid on the wall. 6:14 PM. _Golly, looks like ah' really was out for five hours…_

 _Ah' can't see Gideon… or can I?_ She wandered around a bit, looking for somebody that could send her his way.

Finally, she found another nurse, who told her his room and that he was on another floor. Sharla made her way to his room, looking around at the hospital's décor.

While the room she was in was a boring white, this hospital was beautiful in the hallways. It looked like it was a log house on the inside, with a rustic touch to it.

She found her way to a room that was huge. With support beams all across the top, bolted together. _This place is beautiful…_ she looked at a map to find out where she was.

The foyer/sign in desk. The map shows that to get to Gideon's room, she'd have to go through here, then go up a flight of stairs or an elevator.

As she was walking through the foyer, an exhausted looking raccoon looked up. Seeing Sharla, the raccoon got up and walked to Sharla, with tears in their eyes.

"Are you alright, miss? I tried to brake, but that road is always so slick when it rains, I-i-i-..." she started to cry, "I didn't kill anybody, did I?" she covered her eyes with her paws.

From what the doctor said, she didn't think anybody was dead. She put a hoof on the raccoon's shoulder, and tried to calm her down.

"Ah' was just about to go see him. you're welcome to come with me to see him, if you want." "are you okay? Is the fox okay?" "I'm okay, only a bruise or two. but I don't know about him, yet."

"S-sure I'll go with you." the raccoon smiled a little, but Sharla looked again. She looked exhausted from afar, but up close, she looked awful. "How long have you been here?" Sharla inquired.

"All night. I wasn't going to just leave! I had to make sure you and your friend were alright." "Maybe you should go home if you don't have anything else to do? I bet you can see him tomorrow"

"Are you sure? I'd love to get some sleep, but… what if he wants to talk to me? What if he's angry?" she wiped her tears away. Sharla laugh at that "Ah' don't think he'd be too angry."

"oh, Were you both close? Was that a-a date I had ruined?" the raccoon looked upset again, "i guess you could say that…" she giggled. The raccoon was confused by Sharla's behavior.

"Well… if you think it's okay, I guess I'll go home. Tell him I said I'm sorry, please." the raccoon walked out the front doors, but turned around to wave to Sharla.

Sharla made it to the room for Gideon, and knocked, "It's open." a deep southern voice called to her. She opened the door and went in, Gideon was the first thing she saw.

He was wearing a hospital gown, with a cast on his left arm. She rushed over and hugged him. He yelped, an' she jumped back, "s'okay, you can hug me, just watch out for ma' arm."

She resumed hugging him, careful to not bump his arm. She started to cry, tears dripping down his back. He could feel her quiverin', so he started to pat her back.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Really darlin'!" she let go off him finally, and he sat back while she pulled a chair over to the side of the bed. "h-how're you?" she sniffled.

He put a paw on her cheek, wipin' away her tears with his thumb. "Great! Only broke ma' arm," he lifted it, wincing at the pain from that action, "an' a rib or two." he grinned.

"How're you doin', darlin'?" he asked after takin' his paw off her cheek. She smiled a little, "Only a bruise er' two, thanks to you." "That's good. Yer' welcome."

they sat for a little while, just lookin' at each other, both wanted to say something, but what? "ah' heard you were talkin' bout' me. Was the nurse lyin' or…?" Sharla started, raising an eyebrow.

Gideon laughed nervously, and scratched the back of his head. He was blushin', "I wasn't asking 'bout you like that, it was… different" he coughed, and looked away.

"Oh. Well, what kind of questions were they?" "Well… ah' was askin' the nurse how I would go about askin' a girl I like out on a date, stuff like that..." he still wasn't lookin' at her.

 _See? He already likes another girl. That nurse was wrong, Gideon probably was nervous because he used to bully me._ She fought back the tears. _I can't make him feel bad about this._

"oh. Well, what did she say?" "Just say 'Do you wanna go out with me?', or somthin' like that. I don't think it'll work, cause she can do better..." he trailed off.

She mhm'ed at that, "Well, my advice would be just that. Ask her out, and if she doesn't want you? Then you can do better than her." she crossed her arms, grumblin' the last part.

"oh, okay. Will you go out with me?" "Yeah, just like that. If she says no, find a new girl." "No, will you go out with me?" "YEAH, just like THAT!" she shouted at him.

 _When will he GET it?_ She thought angrily. _When will she get it?_ He sighed. _One more time_ thought, taking her hoof in his paw.

"Will you," he pointed at her, "go out," he pointed to the door, "with me, darlin'?" he asked shyly, pointing at himself. She blinked. Then she gasped, coverin' her mouth.

"Is that a no?" he asked quietly. "Yes! I mean, no! Ugh, forget this!" she had thought carefully about what she would do next. She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Ow!" he moved his paw to where she kissed him. She saw a cut that was healing, or supposed to. "Ohmigosh! Sorry Gideon!" "S'okay. Actually, it feels a little bit better now..."

She raised her eyebrows, "well, I didn't know my kisses had healing properties! Have any other cuts or bruises for me?" she grinned. "well, I think I have one on ma' forehead." "Say no more."

She kissed him on his forehead, right where his hair parts down the middle. "Where else?" "here" he pointed to his other cheek. She kissed that too. "…n' here too" he pointed at his lips.

"Well! Taking advantage of the situation, aren't we? I knew you foxes were no good!" she laughed, but then stopped. "I was hopin' you'd ask," she said in a serious tone.

She leaned in, stoppin' before gettin' to his lips. "Remember when you said you could save somebody you love, so you did, Gideon?" "Y-yeah?" "Well, ah' love you too." she kissed him lightly.

She wasn't too big on kissing for a long time, so it was more of a peck. "was that too short?" she asked with regret. She didn't want to seem desperate.

"to tell ya' the truth, ah' don't like kissin' all too much, so that was jus' right." he grinned. "Oh, good. I hate it too." she laughed and he chuckled.

Rose burst into the room, "Well well well! When I told you to find a hospital to deliver your kits in, you decided to make them here too! Naughty naughty!" she walked over to the bed.

Gideon and backed away stammerin', and Sharla shot back into her chair. "A-ah' can assure you ma'am, ah' did not have those kinds of thoughts about her!" he stumbled over his words, then added, "at least, not 'till we're married." he grinned nervously. Sharla glared at him, to which he sunk in his bed. Rose laughed at this, "i was only kidding, good Lord! can't a lady have some fun?

in any case, I came to tell you your cast should be pretty good to go, and So you are! See ya, love birds." she left the room, but then stuck her head through the door, "Still need to sign out, though. Sorry about that!" and then she left, this time she didn't come back. Sharla looked back at Gideon, who looked at her. "Well, if we're havin' a date, we should get goin'!" Sharla grinned.

"that'd be nice n' all, but when ah' got into that accident, my clothes were ruined, meaning, well, this gown if pretty drafty, if ya' know what ah' mean." he hitched it up onto his body a lil' more.

Sharla felt hot. _oh. Oh dear._ "well, ah' can run out there and get you some clothes, if that's okay?" she offered. "Oh, uh, thanks. Heh..." _awkward…_

"well, I need to repay you back for saving me! Might as well do something like this, right?" she shrugged. "R-right… door's unlocked, I think. Take the key just in case."

"Okay, thanks. See ya' later. N' Gideon, thanks for, well, everything." she gave him another hug and kiss, then left. Gideon felt relief. He leaned back, and closed his eyes.

Sharla had checked out of the hospital, and realized she had no vehicle to use to get to his house… she went back into the foyer of the hospital, and walked over to the pig behind the desk. "Excuse me, sir, but may I use your phone? I don't have a way to get home?" she inquired, the pig stopped what he was doing and looked up at her, "Guess you've never been admitted to this hospital before, huh? A bystander identified your vehicle, so we towed it here. it's out back," he reached for something that she couldn't see, and brought her truck keys into view, "here you go, ma'am. Drive carefully." he said with a smile, and went back to work. She said thanks on the way out, and went around back to find her truck. It was there, all right. She hopped in and left.

Within minutes, she was at his house. She got out of the truck, and walked up. The door was unlocked, so there was that. She went in and closed the door behind her.

 _Wait a sec, I never found out where his room is! Unless, of course, he doesn't keep his clothes in his bedroom like a normal person…_

She assumed his room was upstairs, so that's just where she went. She opened each door, looking in and checking if it was the right one or not.

Bathroom. Sitting room. Study. Laundry room. I _'d check in here, but I don't want to see a bachelor's dirty clothes._ She checked the last room. There was a bed, so she went in.

She looked around the whole room before going anywhere. If she didn't know Gideon, she'd have assumed it would be filthy, with dirty clothes all over the place.

But she did know Gideon, and wasn't surprised the room was well kept, with the floors lookin' like they were swept recently. She saw a picture on his nightstand, so she went to investigate.

In the picture, it had Gideon when he was a chubby kit, riding piggyback on who she guessed was his grandfather. He looked just like Gideon, only with more facial hair.

 _I came to get clothes so we could go on a date, not to snoop in his house._ She scolded herself, and went over to his wardrobe that had an awful lot of drawers. About six.

She opened the top part, looking through it. All the shirts were hung up, and all the pants were folded at the bottom. she'd thought about grabbing some overalls, but for a date? Nah.

She grabbed a nice, blue check-print shirt, and some nice corduroy pants. She guess all his… * ahem * _undergarments_ were in the drawers. Haha. Keepin' his drawers in the drawers.

She started to open the drawers. Socks, undershirts, long underwear shirts, long underwear leggings. So far, of all of the four drawers she'd opened, they had an awful lot of whatever was in it.

But no, um, underwear. _Maybe he didn't wear any?_ She opened the fifth drawer, and started to blush. The only time she ever saw another man's underwear was when she was helpin' with the laundry, and she had to fold her pa's n' Gareth's. But this was different. One side of the drawer was filled with your average white briefs, the other had multi-colored ones.

She grabbed a pair, These _things are HUGE…_ and unfolded them. They had little cartoon-like things on them, like ice-cream and cake with eyes. She quickly folded em' up and put them back.

 _Didn't take him for a tightey whities kind've guy._ She opened the last drawer, and in there were…? An old lookin' drawing pad and some pencils. An' n' awful lot of colored pencils.

She picked up the pad, and opened it up. Inside, there were drawings that looked exactly like the cute design she saw at the bakery. _He did draw it himself. He's so good!_ She flipped the page.

On the next page, it had what looked like a five year old had written inside, 'wen I gro up, I m gona hav 10 kitz, so that I be a gud pa' -gi gi, age 5- _whoa, how old is this thing?_

She flipped back to the cover. It was dated 21 years ago. She and Gideon were the about the same age, so he was 3 when he got this thing.

She went back to his childhood wish. 'so that I be a good pa' kept running through her mind again n' again. She was wrong. She didn't know Gideon that well. _He went through so much, and here I am, a prey. Ah' acted like ah' had it bad, when he had it the worst._ She flipped to the next page. On it was a more legible handwriting. 'Sharla came over today. We had tea, and talked. When she was done, she hugged me. Never smiled so much before in my life' -Gideon, age 24- _this must double as a journal as well as a drawing pad._ Sharla went through it some more,

Lookin' at all the cute drawings of food. When she finished, she put it back, grabbed some underwear and an undershirt. She almost grabbed some socks, when she remembered he wasn't wearing shoes. _Why does he have so many socks then…?_ **(because the writer put that part in, and didn't feel like removing it)** _oh well, guess I'll never know._

She took the clothes, and locked the door on her way out. She made her way to hospital. She saw her parents trucks parked outside, and face palmed.

 _can't believe I never called them!_ She parked, and went in with the clothes. Her mother was sitting with her father, who bounced right up and ran over to her,

"Where in the world have you BEEN?! We tried calling you, we tried finding you, NOBODY knew where you WERE!" she shouted at Sharla.

She was about to tell them why she never made it home, but her mothers next words blew any flame she had for Gideon out.

"Nana was just admitted to the hospital, Sharla! she's not making it." tears dripped down her face. Sharla's world froze.

* * *

another sorry for the romance. some may feel it's completely rush, while others may enjoy it. P.S. if you are confused about the part when sharla says she hates kissing too, she does dislike kissing. but she didn't want to make gideon think he was making her uncomfortable or something. that's why she's relieved when he says he doesn't like kissing. :D


	7. date night!

sorry for being gone so long, i was busy this week. if you see any errors, i apologize. also, you are welcome to review. kthnxbai.

* * *

Sharla walked into Gideon's hospital room, which startled Gideon, and dropped the clothes on the bed. "Thank you darlin', now if you don't mind goin' out?" he chuckled.

She just sat in the chair by the bed, and looked straight ahead, like she was in a trance. He waved his paw in front of her face a few times, to see if she was alright.

She didn't even blink. Just had the saddest lookin' face ever. "uh, Sharla? Hello? Howdy?" he waved again. Not surprising anybody, she still was unresponsive.

 _I really will change here if I need to._ He felt very nervous as he got out of bed, locked the door, and stood in a far corner in case she snapped outta her trance and saw him.

He slipped his underwear and undershirt on underneath under the gown, then took it off. He was sweatin' bullets now, as he slipped the pants and shirt on. _Whew!_

He walked over and laid a paw on her shoulder. She mumbled "You should get dressed." now Gideon knew something was wrong. He crouched to get to her level.

"What's wrong?" he put his paw around her shoulder now, "C'mon darling, you kin' tell m-" She started to cry, tears silently falling into her lap.

I _'m maki_ _n_ _g_ _her_ _upset_ he thought to himself, as more tears fell. He didn't know what to do, as he was always the mourner. _What would ah' want? A hug?_

"would you like a hug?" Gideon whispered. She nodded slowly, and held out her arms. "D'ya want to tell me what's wrong?" She was weeping now.

"M-my Nana was brought here this m-m-mornin' n' sh- she isn't… didn't..." she held his paw with both hooves. "Whenever yer' ready, Sharla." he murmured. He knew what was coming next.

Sharla calmed down a bit, but her voice was still a little shaky. "I didn't even tell my parents I was here, or about the accident. They we- were livid… a-and my Nana jus- just..." she teared up.

She stopped hugging Gideon, and walked over to a window that had it's blinds shut, and opened them. She stood there, holding the window sill, "Why do the best people have to die, Gideon?".

She turned around, seeing him standing there, the fox that had lost everybody. She had only lost one person, and she was blubberin' like a lamb. _He's so much stronger than I am…_ she thought.

He had looked like he was remembering something, he shrugged, "When yer in a garden, which flowers do ya' pick?" he stepped slowly over to the window to join her.

 _What kind of question is that?_ "The beautiful ones. But what does that have to do with anything?" she crossed her arms, frowning at her answer. _I shouldn't be rude, he hasn't done anything wrong!_

His face brightened slightly at her answer, "Well, don't ya' think G-God would want to pick the beautiful ones, too?" he grinned and laughed shyly. _Ah' really hope she doesn't hate me for this._

She looked confused by this, then she gradually looked like she understood. He misinterpreted her response

"S'just somthin' I thought up when ah' was out n' 'bout as a kit..." he twiddled his thumbs. _She d_ _idn't like it_ _, n' fer good reason, too. That was-_

"It was… eyeopening. I needed that, thank you." she smiled warmly and laid a hoof on his arm. She kissed him on the cheek.

She walked past him to the door, he turned around to see where she was going, "I think I should go… my parents will get upset. Again. Bye Gideon." she left the room, leaving him alone.

He raised a paw to his cheek and felt it. "She didn't hate it… n' she kissed me fer' it… maybe ah' should write ma' stuff down now..." he left the room to go to the front desk to sign out.

He didn't even feel the pain from his broken ribs and arm. He knew he was smilin' like a fool, but he was a happy fool.

.

.

.

.

Sharla had gone back to her parents, who were still working things out. The funeral was planned to be next week, as Gareth wouldn't be able to make it out to bunnyburrows until then.

She still felt numbed, both from losing her Nana and from forgetting to even tell her parents she was in an accident.

- **before Sharla took Gideon's clothes to his room-**

" _What do you MEAN you forgot to tell us, Sharla?! Where was your head at?" her father exploded, cradling her face and scanning for any injuries. She shrugged,_

" _I just didn't think to, that's all daddy." she wasn't responding to their questions all to well. Such could be expected from somebody that just lost a loved one._

 _Her mother looked bothered by something, "But Sharla, if you were in the accident, why did you escape with as little as a few bruises?" Eveline put her hands on her hips._

 _Sharla was unresponsive for a while, then finally spoke up, "I was walking, when somebody pushed me out of the way. They didn't… didn't get hurt." she breathed._

 _Her father breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. Did you thank them?" he placed a hoof on her shoulder and wiped his brow. "Yes, daddy." was all that they heard._

 **-back out of her reverie-**

She didn't even know why she had lied about Gideon. He WAS hurt, but she said that so that her parents wouldn't bother her anymore.

Sharla felt sick, sick with herself. She was going to go home, but somebody called her name out. She looked where it came from, and saw Gideon. He was sitting on a bench near the doors.

She grinned at the sight of him, and went over to see what he wanted. "Why are you still here Gideon? I thought you'd go home by now." she asked as he stood up.

"Well, ah' was kinda thinkin' we'd still be on for a date?" he twiddled his thumbs, something Sharla noticed he did an awful lot of.

She sighed, "Gideon, Ah'd LOVE to go on a date, but I-Ah' haven't had a shower or-" "Me neither," "I need time to think about what happened today." "You can talk 'bout it on our date..."

His ears drooped, "Sorry, darlin', it's just that Ah'd never been on a-a date before, so ah' got all excited." "Oh, good. I've never been on a date either." she thought his shyness was cute.

He made a sound of confusion, "Wha'dya mean you've never been on a date before?" "How 'bout I give you a ride home and I'll tell you later. Unless your van is really here…?" she smirked.

"O-oh, yeah. It isn't. that's kinda why I've been sitting here. Heh." he grinned his big dopey grin. She giggled, "Come on, let's go Giddy." "Giddy?" "Yeah. Come on!"

.

.

.

Sharla spent most of the day cleaning the house up for the funeral. By the time they had finished, it was almost time for her date with Gideon. She went up to the guest room she was staying in.

She decided to wear a dress, but nothing too fancy. She never actually asked Gideon what he was going to wear, so better to be safe than sorry. She looked at the clock. Almost time for supper.

Her mother called up the stairs for her, "Sharla, somebody's at the door, could you get it? I still need to get something together for dinner!" "Yes mama!" _shoot! that's 'prolly him!_

She ran down the stairs and opened the door, revealing Gideon. She took a second to see what he was wearing. He was holding a small bouquet of flowers, which he held out to her.

He had combed his hair neatly, he evidently used some kind of gel to hold it in place, as it looked a lil' unnatural. He was wearing a button-up shirt with an argyle sweater vest on over it.

He also had a cute little bow-tie on that was a little crooked. "Sharla, who is it?" her mother exclaimed from the kitchen. She grabbed Gideon's paw and went out the door,

"Just an old friend of mine, mama! We're going to be goin' out for dinner, so don't worry!" she shouted back into the house. Sharla dragged him to the van, and they got in.

"Why'd ya-" Gideon started, but she cut him off quickly, "Stop. My mother doesn't need to know I'm goin' on a date. She would never leave me alone. And I'm driving." she snapped quickly.

"Wha- why? Ah' drove here! I can drive us there!" he was buckling up in the passenger seat anyways. "Because ya' broke your arm, and I want to get out of here, fast."

She turned the ignition, and adjusted the mirrors. As they were driving off, she saw her mother in the mirror, watching them drive off.

 _Oh no._ she growled. _Oh well._

.

.

.

"So, where're we dining tonight, Mr. Grey?" Sharla asked after a little while. "someplace ah' could afford, while also being able to eat a decent meal." they chuckled at this.

"is it someplace that ah've been to before?" "Yep!" "Any hints?" "Nope." "Please?" "No, darlin'." "Well, how am I supposed to know where to go?" she grumbled, squeezing the steering wheel.

Gideon did what was the equivalent of crossing his arms, and pretended to pout like a kit, "Maybe you shoulda thought of that before ya' started drivin'." "Grow up." she laughed.

He sighed when they made it to the village, and pointed to the left. "Turn here, then take a right." "Thank you." she replied.

She took his directions, and turned into Aunt Mary's diner. She gasped with delight as she parked. She looked over at Gideon, who had a little smile. "The last time ah' was here, ah' was 9..."

"Ah' know. That was the last time ah' saw you, before yer' family moved." he said, looking a little sad. "Yeah… ah' loved the milkshakes. Ah' always went there for them!".

They got out of the van, and went into the diner. Sharla shut her cellphone off, just in case a nosy mother tried to bother them. The place looked pretty much the same, except dustier.

They were directed to a booth to sit at, and waited to be waited upon. "Soooo..." Sharla breathed out, "what do you think we should do on our first date?" she looked at him.

He looked nervous. He had both paws drumming on the table, and was looking out the window. "Gideon, what's the matter? what's wrong?" she asked softly.

"N-nuthin'. Ah' just… just wanted ya' to enjoy yerself', but ah' guess that's not happenin'..." "Give yourself a break, this is your first date!" she exclaimed, before lookin' away from him.

"And mine..." she mumbled. "How could this be yer' first date?" he cocked his head, "Yer', uh, pretty." he grinned. She just scoffed, and looked at him quizzically.

"I was never interested in dating in the first place, because ah' was always studyin' 'nd all that. And not a lot of boys..." she trailed off, looking out the window.

He cleared his throat, "Well, ah' kinda know how that feels. Not a lot of gals wanted to be with me, n' they didn't even know about me as a kit." he shrugged, and started fiddlin' with a napkin.

The waitress came by, and dropped off their drinks, "Here you two go, we're going to be taking a little while with your meals, it's such a busy night!" she informed them. She was very…

Peppy. She got a lemongrass shake, and he got a root beer. Sharla started drinking, finishing half of it before Gideon even touched his. That amused him slightly, "Whoa, slow down, darlin'! You wouldn't want to fill up before yer' gets here." he smirked. She glared at him, "What are you, my mother?" she pushed the glass away from herself, crossed her arms and placed them on the table.

He raised his shoulders, "Suit yerself, ah' didn't know." "Well now you do." they laughed, and then just sat and chatted, waiting for their food to arrive.

After a little while, they had gotten their food. She had gotten a rather impressive salad, and he got a Shepard's fish pie. They said grace, and started on their meal.

They said nothing for a bit, then Gideon spoke up, "Ya'know, how the other guys never really wanted to be with ya'?" she stopped eating to listen to what he had to say.

"they… they didn't know what they're missin' out on. I'm glad you wanted me to be your…" he stopped, then looked her in the eyes. "Are we actually going to try this?" he asked nervously.

She chuckled awkwardly, "Wha'dya mean, Gideon?" "ah' mean, are we… you know… an' item?" he locked his fingers together, looking at her intently. Sharla was confused.

She was under the impression that by dating, they were automatically in a relationship. But then again, she didn't have any experience with dating.

"Y'mean like boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked to see if that's what he meant. He nodded his head. "I-I guess so." _what was with those kisses, then? What did those mean to him?_

"But, you know what that means, right?" he asked in a semi-serious tone. He continued, "do you know why people date?" "Be...cause? They love each other?"

"Yeah… but dating is courtin'," "i know," "When yer' done with courtin', the mammals get married," "Yes?" "And eventually… have lambs, or kits, or foals-" "Get to the point, Gideon."

 _Where is he going with this?_ He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "Then, that means yer' serious? About wanting to date me?" he asked quietly.

"Yes! Why else would'ja think ah' was dating you?" she asked, looking into his eyes. She stared, before she gasped. "You really think that's why I went out with you?" she felt hurt.

He looked a little saddened by her answer, "Well, I had no other way of finding out, so I-" he started, but Sharla talked over him, "Gideon, I'm dating you because I want to, not because you saved my life!" "Why would you want to?" he asked, confused by her statement. "Why wouldn't ah' want to?" she sat back in her seat, and waited for his answer.

He stammered a bit before he spoke, "Well, ah'm not rich, smart, handsome or very… ah' dunno, a good choice for you..." he listed off on his fingers, and slumped back in his seat.

She groaned. She held up her hoof to list off, too. "You are a successful business owner. You were smart enough to realize, as a kit, what you were doing was wrong, so you changed yourself instead of having somebody else change you. I-" she stopped, blushing hard, "I happen to think you're handsome. And don't even TRY to say you're fat, because ya'know what? I wouldn't mind.

But I don't see you as much fat as you are muscle. you're in between. Chubby enough for me to love more of you, and muscle enough to work. And you are a HARD worker, I've noticed.

You're burly, by the way. couldn't think of the word at the time. And yes, I think you'd be a good choice. You are the strongest mammal I've met, and a FOX! You put up with whatever others have put you through, and without your family! You're wrong when you say you don't deserve me. I don't deserve YOU!" she started breathing heavily, because she could only talk so long.

Gideon tried to say something, but she held up a hoof, and took a drink. "And another thing, I think you'd be a great father! You already showed me that you'd do anything to protect those you care about. You-you would probably be an amazing p-parent…" she took a breath, tears coming to her eyes, "And if nobody can see that, then too bad for them!" she said through tears.

They sat there, Sharla sniffing, and Gideon in amazement. He opened his mouth to speak, but waited to see if she would cut him off before he got to say anything.

"Well, I was pretty much convinced by the time you finished correcting all of my… qualities. But then you mentioned… me bein' a father? Where did that come from?" he chuckled.

"I-I may have come across a book in your room, when I was looking for something for you to wear..." she mumbled, wiping her tears on a napkin he handed her.

"D-do you really think Ah'd be a good pa?" he asked enthusiastically. "Yeah. You'd be a better parent than me. I don't really do well with them." "Now ah' think that's true a'tall."

"Trust me. I don't do well with them." she rolled her eyes and shook her head. He chuckled, then started laughing. "What's so funny?" Sharla looked annoyed.

Gideon struggled to stop laughing, "y'know what they say, children are like farts, you can only stand yer own!" he started laughin' again. Sharla moaned, "That's disgusting!"

"But true!" he laughed harder at this. Sharla started shushing him, "We might get kicked out if you don't quiet down!" he calmed down, wiping his tears away, "Sorry darlin'. Wanna hear another?"

.

.

.

After hearing some more of Gideon's jokes, they left the diner, laughing together. When they had made it to her house, he stopped her before she left.

"would you… mind getting-" he started. She laughed, "let's take it slow. Verrrry slow. I love you, Giddy, but we can't just marry within 3 days."

"But if the time was right, would'ja say yes?" he still held her hoof. "Maybe." "Do you want a kiss? I have to work full-time for the next few days, so this is your last chance until whenever."

she placed a digit on her chin, "Hmm, aw, what the heck?" she laughed, but he placed his paws on the sides of her head, and kissed her tenderly between the eyes.

They had a hug, then she got out. "an' Sharla? How would you say that date was?" he called from the van. She turned around, and gave a thumbs up.

"The best I've ever had!" "Me too!"


	8. Chapter 8

**-Three months prior their first date-**

Gideon woke up from probably the best 8 hours of sleep he'd ever had. This week was going to take forever, as the carrot days festival was next week.

He planned on proposing at the festival, but he didn't know when would be the right time for it. Like she said, she wanted to take it slow.

But… he couldn't wait any longer. He wanted to get married, but he didn't want to rush it, either. _What if she says no?_ Gideon thought, opening his nightstand and taking out the ring.

* **BRRNNNNGGG** * The home phone started to ring furiously, making Gideon jump and toss the ring into the air. After juggling it around mid air a bit, he caught it. _Wheeew!_

The phones in this place were the same phones as before he even came into existence. They were loud, heavy, garish and irritatin', but he never felt like gettin' rid of them. Sentimental value.

He put the ring on the nightstand, and answered the phone, "Hello? Is this Gideon?" the voice asked on the other side. It sounded female. "This is he, who may I ask is calling?" he replied.

"Wha- Gideon, it's me! Judy!" "Oh! Howdy, Judy! Sorry, I didn't recognize yer' voice." "That's okay. What was with the formalities?" "I do it when I don't know whose callin', I dunno why. So why're you callin'? Do you need some blueberry cobbler for Nick? I could whip one up fer' you two." they chuckled at that, "Actually, no! See, Nick and I were going to come out to the burrows, and I'm going to be staying out at my parent's house, obviously, and I thought Nick might want to stay somewhere… less crowded, if you know what I mean." "Say no more, miss Hopps. Nick can stay at the bachelor pad as long as he wants. How long are y'all plannin' on stayin'?" "Just the week. It's all the time we can take off, let alone together. Are you sure it's not too much trouble to have him out there? Nick can get pretty, well, wild." "I thought he was becomin' a cop?" " _He is,_ but just because he's training to become one doesn't mean he stops being a mammal like you or me. Problem is, he never was like you or me in the first place." she grumbled, He grinned, "How long have you two been datin'?" he inquired.

He heard somthin' that sounded like a gag, and then coughin', followed by some sputterin'.

"W-we aren't dating, Gideon! we're just friends. And besides, why do you care? You aren't dating either, are you?" she asked, obviously caught off guard by his question.

 _Shoot. I thought Sharla's ma talked with Ms. Hopps? How has she not found out?_ "Well… actually, ah' do have a lady in my life." he muttered. Judy gasped.

"You have a WHAT? you're actually dating? Who is it?! Is it somebody I know?!" "Yeah, ah'm datin', yes, ah'm REALLY datin', you'll find out when ya' get here, and yes, it's somebody ya'know."

"Wait, what? Why can't you tell me now?" "Because, it'll give y'all somthin' to talk about, n' ah' really need to get ready to work." "Oh, sorry Gideon. Thanks again for letting Nick stay with you! It means a lot to me! Bye!" "G'bye." he hung up the phone, which made a satisfying * **click*,** and got out of his bed to take his morning routine.

By the time he was out the front door, he realized something. Sharla went back to her house after her Nana had passed away, and she lived about an hour away.

This made their dates more of a day thing, when instead of going out for an hour of a date, they would meet up in the middle and spend the whole day together, until they had to drive home.

But he had an idea. _What if Sharla stayed with the Hopps family?_ He ran back inside to make arrangements between Sharla and Mr. and Mrs. Hopps.

He would've made the suggestion of her staying with him, but he was a gentlemanmal, so that wasn't gonna happen. And besides, Judy wanted to know who he was dating, so win-win!

Gideon dialed the Hopps family first, "Hello?" "G'mornin', ms. Hopps." "Oh, Hi Gideon! How have you been? Does your arm still bother you?" "Ah'm doin' good, and nah, my arm doesn't bother me too much." "Well, that's good!" "Ah' was just callin' to ask for a f-favor…?" "A favor? What kind?" "It's not a sure thing, but if ya' had any spare rooms, preferably one for a f-female?" he asked nervously. He heard her gasp on the other line, "Gideon, if you want to invite Sharla out here, we'd be more than happy to let her stay with us for you!" hearin' this, Gideon let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. _Check that off the list! Now fer' Sharla…_ "...On one condition..." _what?_ "Can you convince Judy to take nick out on a date with you two? Kind of like a double date? Please? She and Nick go really well together, and I'd hate for her to do something she would regret. Like not dating while she's young."

Bonnie sighed, "And it would be nice to see some grandkits again… and having some out in Zootopia would give us more of a reason to visit!"

Gideon chuckled, "Ah'll see what ah' can do. Thanks again, Ms. Hopps." he started to place the phone down, "Oh, and Gideon?" he heard, and pulled the phone back up to his ear.

"I wasn't talking about just Judy and Nick." "Wha-?" "I've considered you family… as long as I could remember. Stu may not have known, but I grew up with your mother… and, well, I just want to say that I'm proud of you. you're doing good!" "I don't understand. I-I hurt your daughter..." "My kids are always hurting each other, and if you think you're the first to hurt Judy, you're nuts."

"do any of your kids have claws?" "uh, no. but we've forgiven you and Judy has forgiven you. Seems the only person who hasn't is you!" she chuckled, "But Gideon, we are here for you. Stu and I, if you need any kind of help, we'd be more than happy to lend a paw." "That's a very generous offer, but ah've no i-idea what you two c-could help me out with a-at the moment..."

Gideon could almost feel a smile coming through the phone, not in a creepy way, though. "Well, if you need somebody to arrange something for you like, I don't know… a party, or a celebration, give us a call. We're known for our weddings. Oh, and Gideon? Thank you for letting Nick stay with you. Have a nice day!" * **click*** _...what jus' happened?_

He placed the phone down, and rubbed the sides of his head. He'd forgotten all the ladies of bunnyburrows had a crystal ball in the form of a telephone.

He had, unfortunately, one last call to make. Sharla. He picked the phone up gingerly, and dialed the phone number, which had gone to voice mail. He heard her smooth as silk voice, telling him to leave a message. He left details, telling her should she be able to/decide to come out, she would have a week to be out there, and that he missed her, and about Judy and her friend.

He hung up the phone, and left the house, with a smile on his face. Even if Sharla couldn't come out to see him, he would still have that warm feeling in his heart.

" _Part of a family. Me. But… if Sharla says yes, and we get married… then we'll be makin' a family for ourselves."_ True to his pet name from Sharla, he started to feel Giddy.

When he got in the van, a dark thought drifted into his mind. _If she says no… if she does… what would I do then?_ He felt a tad bit worried about this, but he was sure it would be fine in the end.

.

.

.

Nothing eventful happened at the bakery, except for a few people asking if Gideon would have a booth at the festival, to which he'd smile and say "Not this year.".

Festivals come and go, but marriage was somthin' he wasn't gonna put off for some cash. He wanted to talk to Ms. H so he could learn more about his mother. What was she like?

Although he had known her when he was a kit, he didn't really KNOW her, and he just didn't care when he had gotten older and past puberty. He never asked his grandfolks. That was foolish, huh.

On his way home, he went over what had happened in the day, and what was going to happen " _so Judy's friend Nick is coming here to- wait, when is he coming over? She never said. Huh._

 _and Ms. Hopps and I talked about...stuff._ _Do people already know ah'm gonna propose? How?"_ Gideon's thoughts were a jumbled mess when his house came into view.

A truck was parked outside, and a fox and rabbit were standing outside. " _shoot, ah' guess she meant today! Oh well, not like ah' had anythin' planned..."_ Gideon pulled up, and parked.

"Nick! He's here!" Judy jumped up and down excitedly, Nick rolled his eyes. "Fluff, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you like Gideon here more than you like me. Unless of course you do?"

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She deadpanned, and slugged his arm. "Ouch! Oh-kay, I will not do that again!" he and Gideon winced at the bunny's aggressive response.

Gideon shook Nick's paw, "Howdy, I'm Gideon, you mus' be Nick!" Nick rolled his eyes again, "i figured you were him. Why else would we show up at Gideon's house, and see our dear little carrots get excited about you? I'm assuming this is your house, too?" he smiled, looking at Gideon through those trademark smug half-lidded eyes of his.

Gideon was confused. "Uhm, I'm s-sorry, d-did ah' do somthin' to o-offend you?" he stuttered out. Nick's eyes went wide as Judy stomped on his paw. Gideon didn't see that.

"sorry, Gideon, Nick usually speaks in a condescending tone to people. You'll have to excuse his _rude behavior."_ Judy clenched her teeth and forced a smile and continued,

"We got here a while ago, but we spent all day at my parent's house, so Nick may feel a little more inclined to stay with you for most of the day."

"Aw, I'd much rather spend it with you. _Alone, carrots~"_ Judy hopped into the truck and tossed out Nick's luggage, "Well I gotta go, you two have fun I'm going home now and Gideondon'tlethimfollowme!" she shouted out the window, she talked as fast as she drove. When she was out of sight, Gideon turned to Nick, who shrugged. "Females, amiright?"

"Ah' guess so, Mr. Nick." "Stop that. Just Nick, please and thank you. Now, let's enter _masculum-domesticus,_ shall we?" Nick picked up his luggage.

"Mass-what?" "Latin for 'male-home'. C'mon, it's cold out, and I don't have that lumberjack build that you have." Gideon rubbed his stomach. " _lumberjack?"._

Gideon unlocked the front door, and let himself and his guest in. "H-how long were you two out there?" he asked, wishin' he'd known that they were gonna be here today.

Nick set his luggage down and stretched himself out and scratched his back, "Not long, you have the worst of timing, I'm afraid. If you had taken any longer, carrots and I could have been smooching under the moonlight." "So you two are…?" "Not yet, no. She doesn't think she's ready for that, yet." "Neither did'ah, but I've got a lady friend ma'self. Want somthin' to drink?".

Nick's eyes widended at the offer, "Do you have _anything_ blueberry flavored?" "Blueberry-grape juice, and quite a bit of it." "Then what are we waiting for?"

Gideon led Nick to the kitchen, with Nick stopping every so often to look around the place. "You must make quite a bit to afford a place like this, Gid. Can I call you Gid?"

"Sure. And naw, ah' didn't buy the place. I inherited it from ma' grammamar and Grandpa." Gideon looked up to the mantle above the fireplace, lined with pictures.

"I know." "So why'd you ask?" "Because some people have a hard time talking about… things." "Oh. Ah' figured it was 'cause ah' was a fox." "That too. How'd they do it? Have a place this nice? Foxes aren't exactly the wealthiest mammals on the planet." Nick looked to Gideon for an explanation. Gideon's throat felt dry. This Nick guy could 'prolly see right through him.

"Lots of hard work." he managed. Nick mad a disgruntled yet satisfied face, then turned. "So, you an only child too?" "Yeah, how'd y-" "All the pictures are only of the three of you."

" _somthin's off about this guy."_ Gideon determined in his mind. "Is there somthin' wrong with that, too?" Gideon directed him to the kitchen, and they both sat at the table.

"No, not at all! I was too. Probably for the best, Mother dearest couldn't afford to raise more than one kit, let alone handle one." Nick looked amused by Gideon's frown,

"Ah'm sorry ya' had to g-go through that, N-nick..." Gideon mumbled. Nick put his paws on top of each other and put them under his muzzle to support them, "I'm sure you are. So, where is this _delicious_ sounding juice of yours? Unless of course you were pulling my leg?" "N-no, I'll go get it. Stay right there, I'll get it." Gideon held up a finger, and walked away.

Nick waved his paw, "Don't take so long, you know how much we foxes love our blueberries." Nick replied in an indifferent tone. As soon as Gideon went into the pantry, Nick's smile fell.

" _This guy is hard to crack. He's hiding something, I know it. That fake accent isn't fooling me. I used to think_ _all foxes were sly, but this guy is about as sly as molasses."_ Nick deadpanned.

" _time to try some other tactic."_ Nick's smile returned when Gideon had, and his eyes had started to inspect every inch of Gideon's face. Gideon didn't notice, and place the jug of juice down.

He poured two glasses, and set one in front of Nick, and sat across from nick with his glass. "I'd offer you some pie, but I never got around to making any for around the house." Gideon chuckled nervously, and went to sip his drink, when Nick raised his glass. "A toast, to us foxes, if you will." Nick raised an eyebrow. Gideon smiled nervously, and raised his glass past his mouth.

"Sure, might as well. Yer' the first fox ah've seen in about 2 years." "Well, then you and I should be catching up, you know, about fox rights and such." "O-oh, sure? I guess?".

Nick smiled, "A toast, between two of the world's most misunderstood mammals! May we always treat others the way they treat us." Nick finished with a look so smug, and downed his drink instantly. Gideon froze. _"He knows. Judy told him. That's why he's actin' weird. He hates me."_ "Aren't you going to finish yours?" Nick licked his chops and looked at Gideon expectantly.

"A-ah'm sorry. Y-ya' 'prolly hate me, an' ah' understand. Judy said she forgives me, but I did something not even she could forgive. I-I was a jerk an'ah'amsosorryl-" Gideon started rambling on. Nick just sat there, his face could only be described as 'Wat'. Nick started laughing awkwardly and holding his paws up, "Whoaaaaa, slow down there, Tex! What are you talking about? You and Judy? Were you dating before she went to Zootopia, and then broke it off or something? Because even if she was yours first, I'll fight you for her." he smiled, placing his chin on top of his paw.

"Ah- ah _scratched_ her..." Gideon mumbled. Nick's eyes shot open, and he sat back. His whole body language changed completely. Before, Nick looked so laid-back and relaxed.

Now, he sat straight up, and locked his paws together and placed them on the table, his face looked withdrawn. Like Gideon didn't deserve anything in his life.

"When." "I-" " _When."_. It was a demand, not a question. "Wh-when we were kits-" "How. Old." "N-nine!" Gideon was getting kinda creeped out. If Nick wasn't training to be a cop, he was sure this would be Gideon's last time being alive. Nick's voice was low and dangerous the next time he spoke, his expression as dark as the night, "It was all _your fault._ ".

Silence. The two foxes sat there, Gideon looking down at the table. Nick glaring at him. Nick's expression faltered when Gideon shuddered. All the other times, he shrugged off the whole 'foxes are trouble' thing, mostly because the mammals saying it weren't foxes. But Nick was a fox. A _FOX._ Gideon felt all the years of his troubled youth coming back to him.

He was thinking about how awful he'd been. His gut felt like swiss cheese, but nothing hurt him more than what he and thought next. He imagined his grandparents saying what Nick had said.

Nick was still glaring at Gideon, when a tear fell on the table. Nick's eyebrows raised a bit, but he was still furious over what he'd told him. That is, until more tears fell on the table.

Gideon started to weep softly. No matter how hard he tried, he'd still have to live with his past mistakes. He cried, sure, but you usually felt better when you did. He felt awful.

He felt something rest on his shoulder. He looked up to see a solemn Nick, standing next to him with his neckerchief held out. "I guess it's a country mammal thing, being emotional and all."

Gideon gave Nick a bone crushing hug, making Nick squeak out all the air in his lungs. "That toOO." he wheezed. Gideon let go of him, and wiped his tears off with the neckerchief.

"S-sorry. Ah' was called the happy hugger, back when ah' had people to… hug." Gideon's voice quivered, "It's just, haven't you ever done somthin' absolutely STUPID when you were a kit, only to regret it for the rest of you adult life?" he looked to Nick. Nick looked out to the distance, and sighed dramatically. "I never did, but let's just say somebody _else_ did."

"You wanna talk 'bout it?" Gideon offered. Nick thought about it. See, with Judy, he had to make sure she wouldn't be like any other mammal. Gideon, however, was a fox. So it was different.

"Eh, why not?"

.

.

.

Gideon blinked, his eyes felt heavy. He looked at the clock. 1:30 AM. He looked at Nick, who was still going on.

" _I can't believe I gave him that juice. it's pure energy."_ was all he thought as he groaned.

Nick could talk, but with a fox? He had so much more to talk about. "… so I said, if you want my money, you're gonna have to catch me before you can get my money, and I-"

"Nick?" "yeah?" "It's one o'clock." "I know. This place is amazing at night. Nothing like Zootopia." Gideon groaned. Again. "What are we even talking about?" he inquired, " _More like, what are YOU even talking about? Murder might be allowed, under these conditions."_ "We were talking about my kithood, and how I learned how to always dodge my prey." "And how'd you do that?"

"My old bully, whom not coincidentally, was a bull, would always try to take my money. Annnnnd give me noogies, which I'm sure you know what those are." "Unfortunately."

"anyhoo, as I was-" "No. let's go to bed." "Oh! Sure! can't wait!" Nick ran out to the foyer and grabbed his luggage and ran to the living room, where Gideon barely managed to drag his feet out to.

"ffffffolllooow mmeee..." Gideon yawned, and trudged up the stairs with a rather hyper Nick on his tail. Figuratively. If he really were standing on Gideon's tail, Judy would be picking up a dead body the very next day. And she would probably understand. As the walked down the hall, Nick would ask what was in every room they passed. Before Gideon could tell him, he'd had asked about the next door. Nick was just starting to ask about the last door, which was Gideon's room, when he stood still. Gideon was worried, and his worry turned out to be reasonable.

The contents of Nick's stomach came out onto himself, making his already hideous fashion choices _that_ much more hideous. If the floors weren't wood, Nick would definitely be found dead.

He looked up, his shirt was see through, albeit with a dark blue tint, and chuckled nervously while shrugging. Gideon grabbed the fox and swung him over his shoulder.

Gideon was tired, but he was also in auto-pilot, so he wasn't really aware of what his was doing when he stomped into the bathroom. He unbuttoned Nick's shirt, who protested, only to have Gideon glare deeply into his eyes. Nick shut up, letting him take his shirt off forcefully. He couldn't really do much, because have you ever tried to fight somebody after throwing up? No? Okay.

Even if he was okay with the shirt, he started to gawk when Gideon pantsed Nick in a flash, leaving him in his undershorts. He picked Nick up and tossed him into the bathtub, and turned on the shower. Gideon only got like this past his bedtime, so he wouldn't hold anything against Nick in the morning. Nick was still shocked by how fast somebody so tired could move.

He tried to make a joke to lighten up the mood, "If it's a country thing to shower in your boxers, that's-" Gideon turned the water on to cold, making Nick scream. "Don't." was all Gideon said.

"What am I supposed to do about clothes? they're downstairs and-" Nick started, but Gideon left, and came back holding only a pair of his own underwear, and set it on the toilet.

"And why do you think I'll wear those?" "Because I ain't carrying your luggage, you're going to go to bed, and if you don't want to, you can go nake for all I care. _Goodnight_ , and do _not_ wake me."

Gideon turned and left, walking down the hall to his room. He looked at the mess Nick had made, and sighed. _"It's ma' fault, ah' shouldn't have given it ta' him in the first place."_

He went to the laundry room, and came back with cleaning supplies to take care of the mess. After he was done, he went to go to bed. He'd just apologize in the morning.

As much as he wanted to hate the way Nick was, he felt bad about how he treated him. He was his guest, albeit one with the manners of a rock (none), but he would get over it. Hopefully…

He was going to have some words with Judy about the friends she makes, that's for sure.

* * *

Okay, so Nick may have seemed weird, but that's because when Nick meets other foxes, he expects them to be like him. Hiding behind a facade. But Gideon's facade was NOT having a facade, at least to Nick, that is. That's why he was acting like that before he found out about him and Judy.

The Blueberry juice is pretty much an energy drink, and you'll notice Gideon didn't drink any, hence his lack of energy. And Nick's abundance of it.

My headcanon for the children is, if the animal is roughly around the same size, they can have a child together, but the species is either that of the mother or the father, not a hybrid of both. If the father's DNA is dominant, it'll be the same as him, and vice-versa. If, say, an elephant want's to have a child with a mouse, that would have to be the mouse is always dominant if the mouse is female, because it would not be possible for her to have an elephant. the elephant mother would most likely have an elephant, as a mouse baby would be a little to small. so if a lamb (sharla) and a fox (gideon) have a child, they have an equal chance of being the dominant parent.

and if you argue that it's not biologically possible, i guess it's too bad the mammals didn't EVOLVE or somthing. toooooo bad. (sarcasm)

and besides, it not REAL. have a nice day!


	9. Chapter 9 Making up

_**Uhhh, yeah, so this chapter was kinda… late. Sorry. I've been busy with other thing in the real world, so this wasn't my top priority.**_

 _ **I've been auditioning for voice acting roles, so I may or may not be able to keep up with this to the point where it isn't taking a week and a half to finish a whole chappie.**_

 _ **I'm bad, I know! And no, it's not for zootopia. I can't do anything like that lol. On with the story!**_

Sharla was excited as she boarded the bus to BunnyBurrows. She got the message at home on the phone that Gideon left after she got out of school, so she packed her bags immediately.

She couldn't wait to see her beloved, and something told her he felt the same. She spent the whole ride on the bus daydreaming about what they would do together at the festival.

She didn't forget about the annual festival, no. But seeing Judy? This was going to be great! She almost lost it when she heard that she and a 'friend' were coming out to the festival.

That got her thinking. " _Maybe that friend is more than just a friend…? Nah."_ she finally concluded. From the way Judy operates, she didn't seem to be the kind that would let a relationship get in the way of her dreams. _"Though, I could be wrong."_. Sharla shook her head with a slight smile. She just couldn't wait to see Gideon AND Judy. Only about half an hour until she was there!

She decided to take a quick nap to pass the time. She was too excited to do some of the work she brought with her, but she wasn't excited enough to not be tired.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she was already nodding off. She started to dream. This dream was a recurring one, that always left

 **- _the dream-_**

Sharla woke up in bed, sunlight seeping in through the curtains into her eyes. " _time to wake up, I guess."_ she sat up and stretched whilst yawning. Running a hoof through her hair, when a deep voice with a heavy accent drew her attention. "How'dya sleep, darlin'?" Gideon reached over and grabbed her hoof, and kissed it. She giggled, and tried to pull him close to her.

"Whoa, careful now! Wouldn't want ta' smoosh the lil' one, would'ya?" He asked, pulling the blankets between them back. There laid a fox kit in pajamas with little trains on them. He nuzzled up close to Sharla, and wrapped his little paws around her leg. She gasped, "Sorry, James, mama didn't know you were there!" she patted his head. He just gurgled and then yawned.

Sharla sighed, and started talking to Gideon again, "D'ya think he'll ever stop coming in to our bed at night?" she whispered. Gideon grunted, "Why? I don't see why he can't be with his pa and ma."

he tousled the kit's hair, and then scratched his chin. Sharla said "mhhhhmmmm." and got out of the bed to get ready for another long day of work at the school, "I seem to recall a certain Mister Grey tellin' me how he wanted to add another addition to the Grey family." she called out from the walk-in closet. Gideon made a sound of acknowledgment, "Ah' did say that..."

Sharla continued, "Well, Mrs. Grey would just LOVE to know, in fact, she's DYING to know, why in the world her husband would want to have another B-A-B-Y, but not keep the first one out of the bed so she gets a full night's rest!" she finished. Gideon got up out of bed, and stood looking in the mirror at himself, "Why'd'ya spell baby out?" he questioned. Sharla moved quickly beside him and shushed him and said in a low voice, "Because if James thinks we're having one, then how on earth would we convince him otherwise?" she was on her way back to the closet, when she felt him grab her arm. "I need to go to work, giddy!" she said in a serious tone. He pulled her close, and kissed her full on the lips, and winked, "G-guess we'll have to _make_ him right?"

Sharla smacked him, and walked away blushing. For a guy that's always so shy, he wasn't too bad at this marriage thing. Maybe he-

 _ **-BunnyBurrow station, this is your next stop. If you're getting of at BunnyBurrow station, this is your stop! And thank you again for riding GreyPanther transportation.**_

Startled from her dream, Sharla hopped up out of her seat exclaiming, "This is my stop!". When she made it to the doors, she thanked the driver, and got off the bus into the BunnyBurrow downtown.

She decided to walk around a bit before going to the bakery to see Gideon, as it was still early, and she was still dying on the inside from that dream. " _If only it weren't a dream..."_

 **Meanwhile…**

Gideon woke up rubbing his eyes, and looked at the clock. 8:30! He was late! He quickly got out of bed and did his morning ritual, and started out the door, when he saw one of the doors in the hall were open. " _shoot, forgot all 'bout Nick. I still need ta' apologize fer'_ _last night..." ._ Gideon decided to wait until Nick woke up before he left, because he thought it would be extra rude to not only not say sorry, but to leave the house and Nick. So he went downstairs for some brekkie. " _guess it can't hurt too much to_ _be a lil' late to the bakery..."._

.

.

Nick woke up about a half an hour later. He looked around at the room he was staying in. "Where… where am I?" Nick got out of the bed, and wandered around a bit, looking at the knick-knacks in the guest room. Everything looked like it cost a fortune. And it probably did. It finally dawned on Nick how Gideon had gotten a house like this, "Maybe I was a little insensitive last night..." he thought aloud, and walked past a full-length mirror. In it, he saw himself. Nude. He stood there and wondered why he was. The events of last night came back to him.

" _Oh yeah. Huh. I look good…"_ Nick flexed in the mirror. The door behind him creaked open, and in popped Gideon's head, "Breakfast is- GAH!" he gagged and slammed the door.

"Whoops. Sorry big guy, but I seem to have misplaced my clothes." Nick grinned. This guy wasn't like other foxes, but it's still nice to see another fox... Gideon's reply came from behind the door,

"They're in the w-wash! Ah'll go g-get'em..." he slipped away, presumably to get the Nick's stuff. When he came back, he opened the door the slightest bit, and slid them in.

"Thanks, be down in a bit!" came Nick's voice. Gideon slipped downstairs, and sat at the table. He fiddled with his fork and spoon awkwardly, still embarrassed over his 'grand' entrance. Ick.

Shortly after, Nick sauntered down the stairs, and took a seat at the table, where Gideon had laid out tableware for his guest. "All this for lil' ol' me? I'm flattered." Nick grinned, He examined his plate, finding there to be two croissants, oatmeal with a boatload of blueberries, and a glass of… something? "While I will be eternally grateful for the blueberries, I would love to know what's in that glass." Nick pointed at it and looked at Gideon. He sure didn't want a repeat from last night. Gideon chuckled nervously, "Nah, that's just tea. Oolong. Keeps you going through the day."

"Tea? No coffee? Or does BunnyBurrows have a ban on the stuff?" Nick joked, picking up the glass and taking a whiff. Smelled kinda like… soy nuts. Predators ate them to keep their protein levels in check. They were also quite tasty. "Ah' can make some, if ya' don't wan' any tea. I jus' make it cus' it doesn't cost that much at the grocer's. And, well, ah' always enjoyed a cup with my grandpop when I was a kit. Gramamar had no interest in tea er' coffee. She believed in only drinking water." "Water?" "Yup. Never had soda until ah' was thirteen. Hated it anyways, it make me ache somthin' awful." "What kind of childhood was that?" "Ah' know, ah' know. Never watched the 'boob-tube' either. My grandpop hated it." Gideon would have continued, but Nick held up a paw.

"sorry to interrupt the memory train, but might I just say, this is all delish?" He put his fingers together and kissed them. Gideon chuckled at this, and poured himself some more tea.

"A-about last night, I jus' wanted to say I'm sorry for the way ah' acted." Gideon looked away from Nick in shame, "Ah' only get like that when ah'm tired. And ah' usually go to bed by 9:00. last night was a special exception due ta' the fact that you were here, but that was no reason fer' me ta' act the way ah' did." he looked Nick in the eyes when he finished.

Nick just sat there with tea in one paw and a spoon full of oatmeal in the other. "Hm? Oh, yeah. Apology accepted. I haven't eaten like this in forever, sorry. And you aren't married yet?" Nick finished off the tea (it turned out to be okay) and the oatmeal, and sat back in his chair. Gideon's eyebrows raised, "N-no, why do ya' ask?" "Because with cooking like that, it'd be a crime to keep that to yourself. Didn't you say you had a girlfriend? Who's the lucky mammal?" "W-well, she's… her name is 'Sharla', and she's just… beautiful. She's got the darkest, most elegant wool you'd ever see on a ewe, her eyes are an enchantin' blue, a voice like silk and to top it all off she was one of the smartest girls at school. She's just… everything I ain't. I don't even know if we're in love or if we're jus' playing make believe..." Gideon added quietly. Nick sat, with a thoughtful look on his face. "I think you love her. Can't say so much about her, but she'd be a moron to not want to be with a guy like you." Nick shrugged, but Gideon looked angrily and him. "Wha'dya mean by _that?_ " "Well, it's obvious you love her by the way you talk about her." "But that's the truth." "I don't doubt it, but that's not what I meant." "Ah' don't follow." "You were more attentive. You put in almost every detail. You sounded less like a hick- no offense – when you were talking."

"Oh… how can you tell all of that anyways?" "I'm training to become a boy in blue. I kinda need to know this stuff." "Ah." "Ee-yep. So, when is the wedding?" "Wedding?" "Yeah, you know, the thing where two mammals say 'I do' and then they settle down and pop out a couple of kits?" "A-ah' still need to figure that out… ah' was kinda hoping to propose at the festival." Gideon mumbled,

"But ah'm afraid she'll jus' say no. ah' want kits an' ah' guess kits aren't her favorite thing in the world." Gideon finished, tipping his teacup to peer inside to see if he had any tea left inside. Nope.

Nick stood up abruptly, and pointed at Gideon, "sounds like what you need is an expert." "An expert?" "Yep. Somebody who has experience with women. *cough cough me cough cough*."

"You? Yer' an expert?" "Well when you put it _that_ way, maybe you don't need any help with your love life." Nick huffed and turned his back on Gideon. "Uhm… maybe I do? Golly, ah' don't know! I love her so much, but ah' get so tongue-tied! Ah'm just-just tired of being alone, and ah' need to do this before we get any older! Ah'm almost 25!" "Yeesh, you don't need to act like that about it."

"Wha'dya mean by that?" "Well, I just so happen to be 32." Nick had to force himself to not laugh at Gideon's reaction. "Bu- y- wh- ho-" "I know, I know. I look amazing for that age." Nick replied smugly. Gideon made a face, "What? No, yer' 32 and Judy is 24.". That irritated Nick, "Hey, I don't tell you how to live your life kit." "Ah' ain't a kit. And it's-" **BRRRRING!** Nick jumped at the phone ringing. "Excuse me, Nick." Gideon held up a paw as he went to the phone and answered it. "Hello? How are ya' darlin'? Did you have a safe trip out here? D'ya want me to come pick you up? Well, it makes me feel awful for makin' you wait. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yes ma'am. Love you, see you later!" Gideon hung up the phone and turned back to face Nick with a big dopey grin,

"W-well, ah' gotta get goin'. D'ya want me to drop you off at Judy's?" "Sure, it wouldn't hurt. Though, she's been talking nonstop about whoever you might be with, so I think she might grill me when I get there." "Oh, sorry 'bout that. We gotta get going now, though." "Well, let's get to it then, bangs." "Bangs?" "Yeah, like a nickname. Haven't you ever had one before?" "Not really, no. Ya' usually give nicknames to people you like. At least, that's what ah' thought." Gideon muttered, earning an amused look from Nick, "Well, you're an alright guy. Sure, you did something stupid as a kit, but at least you acknowledged it, and you apologized to your victims, something not every mammal is able to do." Nick grinned, "So bangs, are we going to hit the road yet?" he asked holding out his arm towards the foyer. Gideon grabbed the keys from the counter and they headed out the door. Before Nick got into the passenger seat, he studied the side of the van, then got in.

"So, who's the artist that did your van?" "Well, Ah'm the one the designed it, but a buddy a' mine painted the van fer' me." "Ah." Nick buckled in before continuing, "You wanna talk about your past? I've found that talking to somebody helps more than keeping it to yourself." Nick looked to Gideon, who looked back at him with a look of confusion, "Ah' thought you were the one that said to 'never let em' see what gets to ya' or somthin' like that?". Nick laughed, "Did Judy tell you that?" "Yeah," "Well, while it is true that I did say that, she is also the one that suggested that I talk about myself more. Don't get me wrong, it's HARD. But it does feel good to get it off your chest, although, you have a larger chest than I do. No offense." "None taken...".

Gideon took a deep breath and started, "Well, before ah' was born, ma' pa…"

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(psst, it ended. This is the end of the chapter, in case you are confused.) First of all, thank you for the reviews, they are appreciated. also, if you see any, and I mean **ANY** spelling errors. I want to put out quality material, so don't be afraid to point out my mistakes. Idk how long the next chapter will take, and I'm sorry for not making this one long. Real life is kinda getting in the way of this, so there's not much I can do to make time for it.

I borrowed the nickname 'bangs' (I do not remember where I got it from, but if the original creator of said nickname wants me to remove it, I will.)


	10. New Friends and Old Ones

I'm just gonna let you all know, I'm actually proud that I got this part done so quickly, as I was out of town for two days and two nights.  
Another thing, I watched this movie called "Grave of the fireflies" and I shut down for a day after that. It made me cry so much, and I was expecting it to be sad!  
If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it. If you already have seen it, you will probably understand what I'm talking about.

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Gideon pulled up to the side of the road where Sharla was standing. He licked his paws and patted down his bangs, looking at himself in the mirror. "Shoot, shoulda' shaved ma' whiskers..." he breathed, and stepped out of the van. "Gideon!" Sharla threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. He did the same, and whispered something in her ear that made her blush.

"G-Gideon… what's yer middle name?" "Gordon, why?" "Gideon Gordon Grey, you shouldn't talk that way about me like that!" she giggled and playfully punched him, to which he rubbed his arm

She scoffed, "Don't tell me that actually hurt? You are such a _KIT_!" she laughed. He kept rubbing his arm, mumbling 'but it did…'. He picked up her luggage and placed it in the back of the van, then went around and opened the passenger side door for her. She climbed into the van, not noticing Nick. He had sat there through the whole thing making grossed out faces. Nick considered himself a romantic kind of guy, but the cheesiness was too much. After Sharla and Gideon got into the van and buckled, Nick waited to be introduced. However, it seemed to Nick that Gideon forgot he was in the back seat, so he decided to introduce himself. He cleared his throat, "I'm Ni-" he didn't even get to finish his sentence, as she turned and screamed.

Then she punched him in the face. It was a knee-jerk reaction, mind you.

"Oh my- ah' ahm' so sorry! I-I didn't realize you were back there!" "S'all right. Et din't hurt thaggt mush" Nick replied, rubbing his muzzle and nose, "ya heet herd fer a ew, dough." "Huh?" Sharla was lost. Nick straightened out his muzzle and nose, "I said 'you hit hard for an ewe, though'. No offense. Though, it seems all the girls that come out of the burrows hits pret-ty hard." "O-oh, sorry… ah' didn't mean for t-that… wait whatd'ya mean by 'all the girls'? Who are you?" she asked cautiously, still feeling bad about hitting a complete stranger. Nick cleared his throat, and held out his paw, "It really is my fault for not properly introducing myself. Nick Wilde, at your service Mrs…?" "Oh! Uhm, I'm Sharla. Sharla Clovenhoof. I am REALLY sorry about hittin' you," she apologized, and turned to Gideon who was sitting in the drivers' seat watching it unfold, "Gideon, _why_ didn't you tell me that he was in here?!" she hissed. He put his paws up in defense, "Ah' didn't know he wouldn't say anything! He's been talkin' the whole trip out here!" "Oh please, that's the lamest excuse ah've ever heard, and you know it. Ya' could've at least told me ya' had a guest!" she shot back.

Nick looked between the two, wondering if he should step in. It didn't seem like they were really fighting, but it never hurts to be careful, right? He cleared his throat, earning their attention.

"Children, let's not fight, okay? We want to make it to Judy _intact_ , okay?" he grinned. She looked at Gideon, raising an eyebrow. "Children? We ain't fighting and how do you know Judy?" she questioned, putting her hooves on her hips. "Well, I like to answer questions in the order they were asked, so: I assume I'm older than you, as I am older than Gideon, it sounded like fighting to me, and I am going to be Judy's partner. Does that answer your questions?" he finished, sitting back in his seat.

Sharla stared at Nick in shock, "Wh-what did you say? Her partner?" "Yeah, partner."

Sharla looked at Gideon, who kept his eyes on the road for a second, then looked at her, "Why didn't ya' tell me that either Gideon?!" crossing her arms, awaiting an answer.

"Ah' don't know, prolly because it wasn't any of ma' business. Or is that concept lost on you, just like your mother?" he joked, hearing a laugh from Nick. Sharla was a little unhappy about that joke, "EXCUSE ME?! I'll have you know I am nowhere near as bad as my mother! At least I'm not the one that-that didn't- you-," "Uh huh, keep talkin' darlin', you'll calm down." Gideon laughed at his girlfriend's expense. She stopped talking and sat in her seat, steaming over what he said about her. They all were pretty quiet on the trip out to Judy's place, so Nick just looked at the countryside. Gorgeous, as always. To Nick, anyways. He was sure the appeal was lost on these two, as was the same with him and Zootopia.

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When they had finally made it there, Nick hopped out to check out the place he was going to be staying at. It was… not that big, considering a couple hundred bunnies were supposed to be living here. "Where do they live, in the ground?" Nick joked, but Sharla was still upset. " _ **yeah.**_ " she answer crossly. " _Yeesh, I guess the temper is something the ladies from here is a common thing too."_ Nick thought to himself, picking up Sharla's bags, "You coming or staying, woolly?" "Yes, and don't call me that. Please." "Yes ma'am." she unbuckled, and hopped out of the van.

"Sharla, wait!" Gideon ran out after them, but they were already halfway there, so he was a little out of breath. He grabbed her hooves and held them tenderly "Ah'm sorry for that. It wasn't right of me to make fun of ya' like that… are ya' still mad at me?" he asked looking into her eyes. Any negative feelings she might have been feeling towards Gideon and his joke instantly washed away.

"ah' forgive you, Giddy..." she said quietly, feeling a warmth form in her heart. Gideon looked unsure, letting go of her hooves, turning to walk back to the van. She stopped him, and kissed him on the cheek. "See you later, darlin'..." he felt awkward doing this in front of Nick, so he hurried back to the van. Sharla just giggled, and continued along the path to the Burrow.

"So, you're the one he was talking about huh?" Nick started, lifting his sunglasses up to wink at her. "Wha'dya mean? He talked about me?" "Yep, said you were, well, everything he isn't. He seems to like you a lot." Nick rubbed his chin, making Sharla look concerned. "What?" "Oh, nothing. Just thinking." "About you and Judy?" "Uh, no." "But you said you two were partners…?" she tilted her head, giving Nick a confused glance. Nick laughed out loud at that, "No, not that kind of partner. I'm going to be working with Judy after my training at the academy is over. But in a relationship? Mmmm not yet, I don't think." "So, you DO like her?" "What's not to like? She brave, smart, generous, and she comes from a (from what I hear) great family. And she's trustworthy, so yes, I do like her to a degree." he slipped the shades over his eyes. This whole 'being more open about yourself' thing was **hard.** "Nick." Sharla said in a serious tone, pulling him aside. This startled him, so he stopped to hear what she had to say. She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I-I love Gideon, really, I do. But… I'm scared. He might want to get married some day, and I might have to give up my dream for that." she looked away, her face had a solemn look to it. Nick was confused. "I fail to see how marriage can stop you from living the way you want. Gideon seems like he'd respect your wishes, and let you fulfill them." he explained. She looked even more hurt, "That's not why. He… wants to have children. I want him to be happy, but I Just got the letter saying I've been accepted into the space program, and I know that if we do get married, I can't just walk out on my husband and kits. I want to live my life, but I don't want to be selfish either! I don't know what to do!" Sharla held her head in both her hooves. Nick was a little taken back. Most mammals would do the selfish thing and do what they want. But here was one that knew it would be selfish. "Not to be rude, but why me? Why are you telling me this?" he asked nervously. She rubbed her temples, "I don't know, I just… thought you might know something- because you and Judy might have that problem someday. You do know she would never give her job up for anything, right?" "I wouldn't be so sure about th-" "She wouldn't. I guarantee it. Growing up, she always told people she had no interest in kits. I used to think it had to do with all of her siblings, but now that I'm in her metaphorical shoes, I see why she doesn't." Sharla finished, letting out another breath. They stood there for a while, Nick felt very torn. HE had wanted to be with Judy, and he wanted kits someday too. Now he knew why Sharla was telling him. He felt very… dark, thinking about this. "Well, we'll see. let's just get inside, my arms are getting tired." Nick forced a grin, and started towards the Hopps home. Sharla looked up in surprise, "Oh yeah, sorry." she followed him. "No problem." he replied. Nick dropped the grin, thinking about what Sharla had just told him. Judy was entitled to be with whichever guy she chose, but he still would feel slightly… miffed. Would she want to be with the guy she's know longer, and shared more memories with? Or with some other guy? Nick didn't want to be territorial about somebody, especially Judy.

But this was something that constantly plagued his mind whenever he thought about asking her out. At first, he thought she was with the 'Gideon guy from back home', but no.

Nick honestly didn't expect being emotionally distraught when he came out here. (he wasn't really, but what else would you call it?)

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when they finally made it inside, they were swarmed but bunnies everywhere. Some were greeting Sharla, while the vast majority were swarming Nick.

"Alright, alright! BREAK IT UP!" they both heard a voice shouting over all of the chaos. All of the bunnies that were swarming Nick backed off, revealing the source of the voice to be Judy.

"Nick, I am so sorry. The welcoming committee here is awful, you wouldn't believe the- Oh my gosh! Sharla?!" Judy's paws went up to the sides of her head in surprise.

Sharla smiled wide, "In the flesh!" she and Judy embraced each other. "How have you been doing? Are you still training to be an astronaut?" "I've been alright, and no, I'm going to be an astronomer." her smile shrank a little when she said this. "But I thought you've always wanted to be an astronaut? What happened?" Judy asked in concerned tone.

"I've decided to work within my limits. Besides, that was just a-a phase. Nothing more." she replied, straining her smile. Judy looked like she was thinking about what Sharla had said, "Oh, uh, okay… So what're you doing here? Are you here for the festival?" "Yep! Your parents said I could stay out here to visit you and Nick, PLUS go to the festival!" "Great!" Judy grinned widely, then turned to Nick, "So, how'd you two get along? You didn't try to con him, did you?" she deadpanned jokingly. Nick shrugged, pulling the sunglasses up onto his forehead, "He's alright. We got off on the wrong paw, but he's okay." "that's great!" Judy exclaimed, clapping her paws together in excitement. She turned, beckoning them both to follow her, "Come on, I need to show you your room Sharla!" Judy lead them through the foyer, and down a few odd halls. Nothing exciting, save for a few of her siblings trying to get a glimpse of the fox their older sister brought home.

The house was decorated exactly how you would imagine it. A mixture of inlaid wood designs with almost every color a piece of wood could be. Brown, black, red, orange and red-orange.

It smelled like earth and… food. Sharla realized how hungry she was, but decided to wait until it was time to eat. Whenever _that_ was. They were walking past the kitchen, which was full of

old-timey gas stoves. Pots of corn and celery were set up on them to stew, obviously for vegetable soup. The kitchen was obviously Bonnie's domain, as signs regarding kitchen humor were scattered around. One such sign said; 'make yourself at home, clean my kitchen!' another said; 'Today's menu; eat it or starve.'. Nick would assume Judy's mother to be some sort of totalitarian, but he'd already spoken to them over muzzletime, and he didn't see that in her. Sharla, however, wasn't hungry anymore. "This is the kitchen, obviously. you'd think it gets pretty busy here, but not really!" Judy chimed in, continuing down the hall. Nick and Sharla were glad that she didn't try to stop, as his arms were killing him, and Sharla was kinda creeped out by the signs.

They didn't walk far, when Judy stopped, and pointed out a door, "This is your room! My room is on the left of your room, Sharla." Judy explained. "Thank you, Judy. I really appreciate it..."

Sharla hugged Judy, and whispered into her ear. "I'm just happy to see you!" Judy replied as the hug ended. "Oh!" Judy's paws flew up to the sides of her face, "there's somebody you need to meet! You won't believe your eyes when you do!" "What? Who?" "You'll see! And don't worry, you've met them before!" Judy grinned, jumping up and down, "But I have to go for now, my parents need my help with something! You two can get acquainted while I'm gone. Sorry guys!" Judy ran down the hall, turning the corner. "Well, if you two are done with your little moment, would you mind opening the door for me?" Nick tilted his head towards Sharla's guest room. "Oh, sorry." she opened the door, and followed Nick in. He set her suitcase and bags next to the bed, and stood for a while, looking at Sharla with what looked like admiration. She felt like he wanted to say something, but was waiting for her to start. "What? Is there something on my dress?" she started, looking down. He shrugged, "No, just wondering why you lied." "What?" "About being an astronomer. We both know you weren't going to be an astronomer, you were going to be an astronaut. What happened?" he asked crossing his arms, waiting for her to answer. She felt downcast, "Well, when I was telling you earlier, about him and me? I realized something. I could either leave him, and be an astronaut, which would make only me happy," Sharla started, but Nick cut in, "How do you know if he'd be happy or not?". This made her stop and think out what she would say next.

She swallowed, "Well, I don't. But I have a feeling when he told me he loves me, he wasn't bluffing. And usually, people get pretty upset when somebody they love leaves. And woman's intuition."

she added, making Nick chuckle. "Well, I guess I can't really argue with that. I mean, I could try, but a gentleman wouldn't do that, would he?" "I wouldn't know, but when I meet one other than Gideon, I'll ask him." she smirked. Nick looked slightly irritated, and slightly amused. "Ouch. Are all the women out here heart breakers too?" they both laughed at this.

Sharla became quiet, "As I was saying, I could either be an astronaut, or be an astronomer. I have a decision, and I've decided to pick the option where I won't be as happy, but I will be happy with the mammal I love, who will be happy also. But if I'm an astronomer, I'll have to buy a ton of books, and study day in and day out." "Why's that? I thought an astronaut would be harder?"

"Well, it would, but I would be AT the training area, meaning I would have a shorter, yet harder workload. However, I'm going to have to do almost DOUBLE the work, just because I wouldn't actually be _there_. It's confusing, but I decided to do the… um… what I think is the right thing." she grinned and giggled. Nick turned to leave, but stopped short, "One more question, doll face. How did you come to this conclusion?" "Well, when we were talking earlier, about Gideon, I realized I was like Judy. I… talked about her as if she was the only one in the wrong, but I was too! It made me realize that you, Gideon, Judy and I are all in the same boat. We're just different mammals. I wouldn't want to make Gideon miserable for my own satisfaction..." she looked away from him.

Nick held up a paw, "Okay, this is getting a little deep for me, but then the ending to that just sounded so _cheesy_!" he made a grossed out face. She glared at him, "Well, if you're gonna be that way, get outta' ma' room!" she joked, but covered her mouth when she slipped and let her accent out. Nick laughed, and left the room saying, "I was only joking, but if you insist!"

She didn't try to stop him. She flopped on the bed, and picked up the clocked off the nightstand. It was 12:54 AM., and Gideon got off at 6:00 PM.

This was going to be a very long 6 hours without him.

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I hope to get the next chapter out quicker, but we'll see what the future holds.

Until then, stay off the sauce.

-Beric


	11. Chapter 11 date date date grate

Me: "I'll try to not take too long on future chapters haha."

Also me: Pretty much falls off the face of the earth, and doesn't even bother telling you guys.

If you want to contact me or something for updates, I have an Amino account for Zootopia. I don't really use it, as I use it for Fanfiction stuff. you can just tell i hardly use it after that statement. anyways, my user name is 'Beric' and it has a little bear thingy next to it. so if you see that, it me. My pic is a polar bear cub, laying on it's back. super cute.

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Sharla woke from her nap. She sat up in her bed, looking around the room. " _This ain't my room."_ was the first thing that came to mind. She sat in the bed, trying to remember where she was.

She was by no means the kind of person that just bounces up out of bed after taking a nap. Picking up her glasses, she put them back on, and got out of the bed, and headed towards the door.

In a flash, she remembered where she was. The Hopps' house. Staying out here to go to the festival… with Gideon. She turned around, and locked herself in her room. It was almost nine, so she wanted to at least take a shower. Unpacking some things, she stepped into the bathroom, and blah blah blah girly stuff. She did her wool, and stepped out of the bathroom.

She decided on a red sweater and black skirt, to contrast Gideon's mostly blue and white wardrobe. She walked out of the guest room, almost bumping into one of the many bunnies that lived here, startling the bunny. "Oh! Excuse me. Wait, what was your name again?" the buck asked, his voice full of pep. "Sharla, why?" "Judy and her friend were thinking about going out tonight. They wanted to know if you'd be interested!" he grinned after explaining. "Oh, okay. Um, do you know where they…?" she started, but the buck pointed towards where the living room was. Sharla nodded, "Thank you, ah- what's your name?" "Paul. I'm the oldest of a litter. There was Paul, Peter and Mary." he laughed. She giggled, "Pretty small litter, huh?" "Oh, yeah. Everybody was surprised! But I have to go help dad with something, so see ya!" he turned and started down the hallway. She went in the opposite direction, scanning every area for Judy and Nick. She finally saw them, surprising no one that they were surrounded by Bunnies. From what she could tell, Nick was telling them a story, "...and then your big sister here saved my life from the big scary jaguar!" he said in a sort of ominous voice. One of the smallest kits was sitting in an older sibling's lap started to say something, but was reprimanded but the older rabbit, "Esther, raise your paw when your're in a crowd, remember?" she whispered, thinking Nick wouldn't hear. He turned his attention to the little kit, who hid her doll behind her back. She looked a little frightened, "Mr. Nick, is the jaguar still out there?" she asked in a small voice, afraid of what he'd say. "Of course not! He's all better now. That's what your big sister and I do, we help people!" he added, causing all of the kits to chatter among themselves. Nick noticed the doll the little bun was holding. It was losing a button eye. _"speaking of helping people..."_ he thought as he reached out for the doll, "May I see your doll?" he asked in a light voice, but she still pulled it out of his reach. "I promise I won't hurt it. Why would I, with all of your big strong siblings around?" he looked at all of them, or laughed at that. Judy was hissing at him, asking what he was doing. The little girl complied, and gingerly placed the doll into Nick's paw. He sat back on the couch they were all surrounding, and pulled out a needle from his breast-pocket, and set to sewing the eye back into place, as well as sewing some other things back together like a busted seam here and there. "There, all better!" he finished, and handed the doll back to her as gently as he could. "Does this little fella have a name?" he grinned. But Sharla noticed this was a warm, kind smile. Not the sarcastic, smug smile. She thought it suited him. And judging from Judy's smile of admiration, Judy thought so too. The little girl spoke up, "He does now! It's Nick!" she hugged the doll, then walked slowly over to nick, making a motion for him to bend down to be at her level. When he bent over, she kissed him. "Oh, mon cherie, you flatter moy!" he said in a very poor attempt to sound french. "where did you learn to sew?" another kit asked, wrapping Nick's tail around his neck like a scarf. "Oh, from my dad. Taught me everything he thought I should know, and then some." "Can you bake pie?" "Uh, no?" "What? Are you even a REAL fox?" "Excuse you. I am." while Nick and the boy went back and forth, Judy looked up and saw Sharla, "Oh, you're awake! Did you get the message?" Judy hopped of the couch and stretched. She walked over to join where Sharla was, and looked on at Nick. "Y'know, I thought he'd have a problem with all of them, like, having them swarm him every time he did something. But nah, they've been pretty tame so far." she sighed, prompting Sharla to say something, "W-well, he does seems to enjoy all of the attention… from the kits." she gently hinted. "Oh, yeah. He just can't get enough of it." Judy agreed nonchalantly. _"_ _Well that was awful. Time to change tactics."_ Sharla thought to herself, scratching her wrist in irritation. She remembered her wristwatch, and checked it. "It's 8:50… aren't we going somewhere?" she thought aloud. Judy nodded, "Yeah, we were going to hit the town. Maybe go on a double date." "Double date?" "Yeah! Remember that one guy I told you about?" "Uhm, yes. But I..." "Don't worry, it's not romantic or anything, it's just a bunch of old friends plus a new one. I promise." Judy placed a paw over her heart. _"If she's talking about who I think she's talking about, I doubt it won't be romantic..."_ she giggled at the thought. "Aaa-okay kits, time for bed! Nick announced, picking up at least five of the smallest bunnies there. "Are you crazy? NOBODY goes to bed at this time." one of the boys complained. Nick gurned, and looked at Judy, "You said everybody out here goes to bed at that time!" "Everybody that's Judy!" an older one of Judy's younger siblings chimed in. "So, nobody." he realized. "Yup." they all said in unison. Judy blushed at being found out, and ushered the kits off of nick, "Okay, okay, time for us to leave! Come on guys!" she clapped her paws together. The three left the burrow, just in time to see the sun setting. "It's so beautiful, like fox's fur..." Nick said in a dreamy voice, holding both of his paws together. "Cut it out, just get in." Judy commanded, and both Sharla and Nick complied. After getting into the Molvo station wagon, Sharla felt like asking where they were going exactly. "Oh, you'll see! we'll discuss our plans once we pick up our guest." Judy replied, as she was the driver. Nick was sitting in the back, so he grabbed another belt buckle from the middle and made use of it. "Oh, har har. You saw how well I drove LAST time, how is now different?" she asked, looking in the rear view mirror just as they pulled out of the driveway. "Because this is the country-" he started, but Judy put he paw full on the gas, hitting 60 in a single second. This was normal for the two prey, but obviously not the predator. He screamed. (60 miles per hour is like, 96.5606 kmh. So it's kinda fast-ish. I live in amoorica, so idk how to do the thingy to convert it. I should really learn how to...)

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There's a certain charm to driving in the countryside after the sunset. One being able to see all of the stars up above. Nick sat at the window, looking up at all of the stars in wonder.

Just a second ago, Judy had said they were about to pick up the other guest. Until then, Sharla was naming all of the stars that Nick pointed out. It was… something special.

They were fast approaching upon some lights in the distance, which were coming from streetlights in the town. A few more seconds, and there were slowing down in the almost storybook-like village, "We call it town, but once you're in it, we call it the village. Don't know why though." Judy explained. All of the buildings were build together, making walls of stores. The architecture was impeccable. Judy started to park right in front of a… bakery. Yup. She wasn't as slick as she thought. _"Might as well pretend, just to play around with her..."_ Sharla grinned mischeviously.

Standing outside of the darkened bakery was the handsome gentleman himself, holding some flowers. Nick moved over to behind Judy, so Gideon could get in. Judy was watching Sharla closely. _"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea? What if she's still angry_ _about how he was when we were younger_ _…?"_ Sharla seemed… unfazed. This probably could be because she already knew Nick, but- no. If she found out this was Gideon? Now Judy was worried. Sharla turned to Judy, "Is this Nick's brother or something?" she asked in an innocent voice. "Uh, no- it's-" Judy didn't get to finish, because Gideon had gotten in, "Howdy, all!" He leaned forward in his seat and kissed Sharla on the cheek. Sharla blushed. Judy gasped. Nick started laughing.

Judy sat still. What. Sharla looked down at the floor, a smile forcing itself onto her face. Nick laughed the entire time, while Gideon was completely confused.

Judy finally found her voice, "You… kissed. Kissed. Her." it finally occurred to Gideon that Judy didn't know. "Wait a sec, how could'ya not have known? Yer' the one that wanted us all ta' get together!" he sat back in his seat, looking between Nick, Judy and Sharla. Nick was still in fits of laughter, so Judy started, "I called you to tell you about tonight, but Nick was the one that thought of it!" Judy started the car, "And why didn't you tell me he was your- with you?!" she interrogated Sharla. "It just never came up. And besides, I thought it'd be funny to see your reaction..." Sharla laughed softly, taking her glasses off to clean them. "After you're done with being baffled, are we going to head out? I'm starved." Nick asked while wiping away a tear. "Let's" Judy said in a low, yet thoughtful voice. Judy started up the car, and the four set off. Poor Gideon was still confused. "Wait, what happened exactly? Ah'm lost..." he asked Nick. Nick looked a little too happy to have been asked that, "I'll tell you later." was all he said. The car ride was a quiet one. Gideon quietly passed the flowers into sharla's lap, and leaned back in his seat.

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Judy stopped at Clawsby's, one of the oldest restaurants in the village. Being here again brought a smile to Sharla's face, "Is old man Clawsby still alive?" she asked, nostalgia flooding her mind.

Gideon got out, and opened her door for her, "Sure enough! I've helped him once in a while, but if ya' ask me, he could run the place completely by himself." he held out his paw, and Sharla took it. Judy and Nick joined the two on the sidewalk, and entered. One word: Massive. They all thought it when they first walked into the restaurant. It was Clawsby, with his back to them all.

He turned around, revealing his huge brown bear face, his huge black eyes twinkling in the candlelight. "Judy and Sharla!" his voice boomed, making Nick shudder. This guy was bigger than Koslov. He bent over, taking Judy and Sharla's paws at the same time, and kissed them. "Clawsby! How've you been?" Judy laughed, she and Sharla attempted to hug him.

He hugged them back, and turned his attention back to Nick and Gideon. "And are these two foxes bothering you two? Why, Gideon! I thought you weren't being naughty anymore!" he laughed a laugh so loud that all four of them shook. He looked back at Nick, "Is this that Nick fellow I've heard about?" he held out his large paw. Nick took it, expecting his arm to be pulled off of his body, like a piece of dough. Clawsby, however, was gentle. To Nick, it was like a regular handshake, "The wife told me that Bonnie told her that you helped stop some kind of scandal." he took a breath.

"All this talking is taking an awful lot out of me. Come, I have seats for you!" he lead them to a booth, right near a window. The interior of the restaurant itself resembled a log cabin.

It was warm, and so were the color choices. Hues of red, orange, yellow and brown were the main colors. They took their seats, saying goodbye to Clawsby as he went to wait on somebody.

Nick whistled in amazement, "He manages it AND he waits on tables?". The other 3 nodded, "He takes turns with his wife. Every other night they'll switch jobs." Gideon explained.

"Did they have any children?" Nick asked in amazement. Judy laughed, "Oh, yeah! Tons. They're the oldest living couple in the whole of bunnyburrows, so they call everybody their children.

However, they couldn't have any of their own, so they adopted." Nick made a sad smile at that statement. Clawsby came around again, and took their drink orders.

They chatted about Nick and Judy's involvement in the case, about Gideon and Sharla's relationship _"I can't believe it! You two HATED eachother!" Judy exclaimed_.

They also discussed their plans for the festival , which mostly involved all of them walking around aimlessly until they found something to do.

Clawsby came back around, bringing their drinks with him. "For the lovely lady Judy, a carrot-coffee (decalf). For the elegant ewe, a lavender tea. For Nicholas, spiced blueberry cider. And last but most certainly not least, a root-beer float for Gideon!" he announced. All the others gap-mouthed at Gideon. "How'll you have room for dinner?!" Sharla groaned. "Fear not, Sharlate, Gideon is a real man! He can do it!" Clawsby exclaimed, laughing again. They all gave their orders for dinner, and off went Clawsby again. Back to chitter chatter, they went.

Some time passed by before Judy excused herself to go to the restroom. Sharla joined her, and they headed to it. Nick decided to strike up a conversation, "So, she seems nice." Nick said nonchalantly. "Who?" "Sharla. We talked a bit after you dropped us off. Then on the way here, she named a bunch of the stars for me." He explained, looking after where the girls had gone, and then looked back at Gideon. "That so? She ain't the talkative type, so that's surprise. Funny, she's always been the go-getter, n' yet she's so… timid n' shy, y'know what ah' mean?" Gideon asked, looked for confirmation from Nick, who nodded his head. "When we're together, ah' always get ta' talkin' so much she falls asleep, n' then ah' gotta wait fer' her ta' wake up so ah' could take her home." he chuckled and took a gulp of his rootbeer. "Man, what is takin' the girls so long?" Gideon looked in the direction they walked off to. Nick didn't have the heart to tell him that they would be a while.

 _Meanwhile…._

"So, what's he like?" Judy interrogated her friend as she washed her paws. "Well," Sharla started, clearing her throat while she stood looking at herself in the mirror, "He's… polite. Always opening doors fer' me, buying me things. T-things like t-that." she mumbled. Judy finished washing her hands and started drying them, "Is he… you know, a hugger?" she asked, looking like she'd been dying to know. _"_ _Of all the things to ask, why THAT?"_ Sharla thought to herself, "Yes, he's always huggin' an' kissin' me. With my consent, of course. He always asks first." she added.

Judy looked like she was remembering something, "It's kinda funny, how one day, you're at each other's throats one minute, then the next you're dating. I NEVER would have imagined Gideon as a romantic guy. Not that I doubted him, but it's like imagining me give up police work. I can do it, it would be hard for anybody to imagine it!" she laughed at that.

Sharla swallowed. _"She's on to me."_ she thought, panicked at the thought of being found out trying to pair her and Nick together. Wait a second, isn't that what her mother did with her? Oh no, she was just like her mom. This is awful. "Y-yeah. Never woulda thought. A-anyways, we gotta get back to the guys..." "Yeah, our dinner might get cold." Judy agreed, and headed out with her.

.

Nick and Gideon weren't talking about much when the girls had gotten back. All their meals had arrived, but the guys had left their own untouched. Didn't want to start without them.

"Smells great!" Judy announced, and took her place across Nick, while Sharla quietly agreed with her. They all dug right into the meal, enjoying every bit of it.

"It's official," Nick started, "Everybody from bunnyburrows is an amazing chef, cook, baker or whatever. Everything I've eaten hasn't disappointed me in the slightest!" he rubbed his stomach, making everybody laugh. It was a jolly and merry mealtime. They paid the bill, Nick and Judy arguing over whether the men would pay, or everybody pay for their own meals.

Judy was adamant about paying for he own meal, "If Gideon wants to pay Sharla's bill, and she says yes, I don't care. But I want to pay for my OWN." she insisted.

Sharla and Gideon sat with bored expressions watching them. This was taking forever. "How about this; we pay fer' yer' meals, an' you pay fer' ours." Gideon interrupted, placing enough to pay for Sharla's meal. Sharla looked at Gideon worriedly and whispered to him, " _how much did it come out to for you?" "Uh..."_ he looked at it again, then at her. He mouthed the bill to her, and her dark face paled. While they were having their episode, Nick and Judy had already agreed, and they both paid. In the end, Gideon decided to pay for Sharla's meal, too. He wasn't going to invite somebody out to visit, and then expect them to pay for everything. He was also pretty sure that she had limited funds, as school somehow drains money from you.

They all thanked Clawsby and his wife personally, and then left. Everybody was getting tired from all of the delicious food, and the full bellies. Sharla was the only one awake enough to make the drive back to Gideon's house, and dropped the men off. She gave Gideon a peck on the cheek, and drove off to Judy's home. This was a good date.

* * *

The reason it ended so abruptly is because, well, wouldn't you get tired and want to go to bed? They we pooped. anyways, if you do have an amino account, get on and kick my lazy butt into overdrive to make the next chapter. if you want.

Oh, and r&r please. you guys were really awesome that one time, so i was happy :) i never had the kind of feedback i got that time. which was ever.


	12. The festival!

This is literally the LONGEST thing I've ever written! Lol. Please let me know if there are any errors in spelling or anything like that. Also, read and review! You've all been great so far! Thank you for reading. This isn't the end, per se. It's just the end of their single status.

* * *

Today was the festival… but… was Gideon ready to propose? Would she even say yes? Probably not, but it never hurts to give it a shot. Hopefully. "Well, it's her decision. Ah' can't get mad at her if she doesn't wanna be with me..." Gideon talked to himself in his mirror as he got ready for the day. He would be disappointed, sure, but what could he do? He shook his head, "She said she loved me. I can't keep worryin' like this. Ah' can trust her. Besides, how could I love somebody Ah' don't trust?" he looked at himself in the mirror wearily. He finished combing his hair and went downstairs to get started on breakfast. He wasn't very hungry, seeing as he'd eaten so much last night, but he still had a guest. Might as well make extra, in case.

He put on a pot of coffee because tea wouldn't give him as much energy as coffee would. _Maybe Ah'd have tea for lunch…_ he thought to himself as he went to the pantry.

He pulled some canned goods off of the shelves and brought them to the table. Nick came down the stairs, reading a comic book. "Oh, you found 'em!" Gideon exclaimed. Like any other kit that was nine, he'd had a love for comic books. However, his love for them went further than other kits love for them. He would get summer jobs, and any money he'd earned went to buy another one. It got to the point where he couldn't buy anymore, so he MADE some of his own (hence, good art skills) Some kits paid him for them, too.

Growing up, he was afraid other people would try and steal from his collection, so he hid them under the floorboards in his bedroom, which was the guest room Nick was staying in.

He never kept any of his own comics and burned them when he was going through his 'rehabilitation'. Nick looked up, his eyes full of wonder, "Yeah! I can't believe you had so many! Steel Fox was my favorite!" he held up the comic and pointed at the front. On it was a fox decked out in pure white clothes. Despite many people disliking foxes, quite a bit of the population of Zootopia secretly liked Steel Fox. They just wouldn't admit it.

"Yeah, had quite a collection going on when ah' was little. How'd ya find em'?" he turned his attention back to the table, _"Now, should ah' make orange marmalade pancakes, or apple crisp waffles?"_ he thought to himself as he scratched his chin. Nick sat at the table, not taking his eyes off of the comic, "I noticed the floorboards were uneven in a specific spot, so I fooled around with them. Soon enough, poof. Comics." "Hmm. Whaddaya want fer' breakfast, waffles or pancakes?" he looked between the jars full of fruit and syrup. "Uh..." Nick looked up from the comic book, "Pancakes. Last night stuffed me fully, so I don't want a lot. Besides, I'm saving room for all of that delicious, disgusting, greasy and fattening festival food." he licked his chops and went back to the comic. "Pancakes it is, then. Golly, ya' really love that thing, huh?" he commented as he turned his back, beginning to mix the batter together. "I could never afford comic books as a kit. Even when I started hustling, other mammals would get their paws on them before I could, and they would charge double for them." "Ah. So yer' catchin' up now." "Yup. Oh, and thanks." "Fer' what?" "For letting me stay in your house, feeding me, putting up with me AND letting me read your comics." Nick counted off of his fingers, still looking at the comic book. "Oh. Well… yer' welcome, ah' guess.".

Gideon started pouring the now mixed batter on the hot griddle and flipped them just in time to leave the outside of the pancake a deep golden-brown. He set Nick's plate in front of him and sat at the other side of the table with his pancakes. Popping open the jar of orange marmalade, he poured it all over and set the jar in front of Nick in case he wanted some too. After saying Grace, they dug in.

Nick ate one of the pancakes without marmalade and commented on how delicious it was. He picked up the jar of preserves and poured them onto his plate. After taking a bite, his eyes widened, "How is it EVERYTHING out here tastes BETTER?" he asked dreamily, finishing off the rest of the pancakes by eating them whole.

The two of them finished off breakfast and headed out to the delivery van to go pick up the girls. Today was the festival, and they wanted to get their day's worth of fun.

The festival started at six in the morning and ended at midnight. Plenty of time to have fun! However… Gideon planned on proposing at midnight, seeing as Sharla was supposed to be leaving the next day. It would… be kinda nice to have somthin' to look forward to, until the next time he saw her. She was supposed to be going off, and being an astronaut. Somthin' that would take at LEAST a few years to become, and he was pretty sure marriage would kinda halt that. If she said no, he'd at least be happy that she would be happy.

They arrived in front of the Hopps' home, and the duo went to inquire about Judy and Sharla's whereabouts. One of the smaller bunnies answered the front door and gasped, "Nick and Gideon are here!" he exclaimed, and opened the door wide to let them in. "If you're looking for Judy and her friend, they're helping mom make breakfast!" he informed them. They thanked him and headed towards the kitchen. As they were approaching the kitchen, they started to smell a symphony of scents, making their heads spin. Upon entering the kitchen, Gideon blushed and Nick whistled at what they saw. Sharla put her hair up in a blue bandanna and was wearing a red tank-top with dungaree shorts. Judy was wearing a yellow and white tank top with black skinny jeans. Both girls had a pair of sunglasses on their heads (they pushed them up onto their heads). The men both looked at one another, thinking the same thing, _"We should've worn something else..."._ Gideon was wearing the same ol' blue jeans with a checked blue shirt. Nick was wearing a funky orange and purple Pawaiian shirt, along with khakis.

Nick's mouth was hanging open when both of they spotted the fox duo. "Enjoying the view?" Sharla grinned shyly while stirring a bowl of oatmeal. "Nick! Perfect timing! We need some help around here!" Judy rushed over and handed him a spatula and dragged him over to the stove, "Okay, so my parents aren't home, and it's total chaos. You're gonna be making french toast!" Judy explained excitedly. "What 'm I doin'?" Gideon folded his hands awaiting his orders, "You can be in charge of the little guys if you want, or dish duty." Judy chuckled nervously. She was hoping he would help with the kits.

Gideon obviously went with leading the younger Hopps kits, "Okay guys, we're gonna be helpin' make somthin', but whaddya' ya think it should be?" he gathered up ten of them, five boys and five girls. One raised their paw, "Can we have one of your pies?" he asked quietly, knowing full well pie was more of a dessert, and not a breakfast food. "Hrm. Fine, we'll make one." he decided, causing the bunnies to chatter, "But we've never made a pie before!" one cried out. "Then you'll learn! Ya' know how ya' get better at something? You practice!" he led them to the pantry, "Okay, so what do we need ta' make a pie?" he picked up the youngest of the group, Charlie (I'm gonna be four next month!), and put him on his shoulder. "Can you help me look for things?" Gideon confided in his little helper, "Yep!" he nodded vigorously. "We need you to make pie!" somebody called out, making Gideon laugh. "That's right, but what do we put IN the pie?" he clarified.

"Candy!" one of the girls cried out. Gideon thought she was joking, but she looked so serious, he felt kinda worried. _"This is gonna take a while..."_ he thought to himself.

.

.

Gideon and his little group finally got together all of the things needed for the pie, and he started measuring and adding them to the bowls. "After ah' mix it all, Y'all kin' help roll it out for the pans." he grinned, and they all agreed to wait. They all had their own tiny rolling pins, except for Charlie, who shared with Gideon. Judy, Sharla, and Nick were watching all eleven of them roll out the dough.

Sharla took some pictures and promised to send them to Judy's mom later. "Okay, breakfast time!" Judy and Sharla announced. In seconds, the kitchen filled with hungry siblings.

Nick and Gideon opted out, as they had already eaten, but they sat with Judy and Sharla at the table anyways. "So ladies, what are we doing today?" Nick asked, sipping his third cup of coffee for the day. "Well, I was hoping to get some time with Judy, maybe we'll go to the power tower?" Sharla suggested. "The power tower? The one that drops?" Gideon asked nervously, Sharla nodded. "Count me out. I don't do things like that." Nick groaned. "More fun for us! It's so much fun!" Judy grinned cheerfully, making Nick squint at her. _"Dropping to your imminent death is fun?"_

"That g-goes double fer' me… I can't do things like that." Gideon politely declined. "It's okay, you don't need to ride everything we ride. I like any of the rides though, so I'll go with you on any of them." Judy responded. One of the kits tugged on Gideon's sleeve, "When is the pie ready?" she asked. "Lemme check'em, cinnamon bun." he got up and checked the oven with the ten pies.

"They should be done soon, but we have to let them cool when we take'em out," he explained. She looked miffed but didn't complain.

He put on the oven mitts and took the pies out one by one. Everybody at the table crowded to take a look at the Y'all and tell him what flavor they wanted.

"Okay, okay! There's two of every flavor, apple, peach, pecan, carrot, rhubarb, and blueberry." Gideon announced and served the pie alongside Judy.

As you can imagine, they CLEARED every pie tin clean. They all worked together after finishing off breakfast to wash the dishes. Sharla and Gideon were in charge of washing/telling the younger kits how to wash. Nick was in charge of drying, while Judy helped put the dishes away. They finished in no time, and then the younger kits scattered to get ready to go to the festival.

Judy grabbed a pair of keys and led them out to the garage, where the family van was. It held up to fifty passengers. The 4 of them packed 46 other bunnies in with them, and they headed to the festival. Judy had promised her parents that she would drop her younger siblings off so that they wouldn't have to.

The bunnies' chatter was so loud the four weren't able to hold a conversation that was understandable so they waited until they dropped them off. Judy knew where her parents were supposed to be so they headed straight towards their location. When they found them Judy greeted them both with a hug, "Good morning! How's business? I brought the first load of them like you asked!" Judy informed her parents after she let go of them, "Oh, thank you. We've been busy ever since we got here!" her mother replied, and hugged Gideon Nick and Sharla as well. "Now, you four need to enjoy yourselves! after all, that's why you're all here, not to sit and chat." Stu patted his daughter on the shoulder. "Here, take these tickets and go have fun. After all, you're only young once!" Bonnie handed them a massive roll of tickets and sent the four off on their own. To Judy, this was normal. But to Gideon and Sharla, who had to earn their own tickets? They were astounded. "How do they have so... so MANY?" Gideon stared dumbfoundedly, while Judy divided the tickets evenly between all of them. "My parents are vendors, so they get a discount on tickets. It all works out for big families like mine, so we take advantage of the deal." Judy said as she handed the tickets to her friends. "Okay... so, who's going with who? Is it gonna be all of us or are we going in pairs or what?" Nick asked as he took his tickets. "Well, Ah' don't know 'bout Y'all, but I'm gonna go off on ma' own for a bit if that's okay?" Gideon jerked his thumb in the other direction, "Sure, that's fine." Judy started, but then whispered in his ear, "Remember, you're here for a reason..." she looked at Sharla, who was giggling at Nick trying to knock some bottles down with a baseball but was unsuccessful. Gideon sighed, "Ah' know, I'll be right back with Y'all soon. Ah' jus' gotta be at... where Ah'm going by eleven." he said quietly enough that Sharla couldn't hear him. He departed and headed off to his destination without telling them where he was going.

After Nick won a plushie at the bottles, he and Sharla returned to Judy with the prize. He handed it to her, "There. I swear, that thing was rigged!" he threw his paws in the air to show his disdain. Judy looked at the toy, "it's a... carrot. Gee, thanks, Nick." she faked a smile. "I'm just kidding, I got you THIS," Nick pulled a tiny fox doll out of his back pocket and handed it to her. "The guy at the stand said he was out of giant ones, so he gave me the carrot to tide me over." He was happy to see she liked the fox toy. She noticed it had a hook on it for a keychain, so she hooked it onto the keyring. "Thanks, Nick! It's so-" "Ah-ah-ah, who do you think you are calling foxes cute?" he held up a finger. They both laughed at his joke except Sharla, who was looking around for Gideon. "Did anybody see where Gideon went? He's gone..." Sharla looked to Judy and Nick, "He said he wanted to go somewhere by himself and it was at eleven. Did you two have plans?" Judy asked looking worried, "Oh, no, we didn't have anything set in stone, I was just wonderin' why he didn't take me with him..." she replied as she looked through the crowds for her beau. "If you want to look for him, go ahead. I was going to show Nick some of the fair food stands. He's been dying to go to one." she looked at him as he gave them both a thumbs up. "O-okay. I'll be right back..." Sharla nodded and left towards the time listings for events. She asked around for directions and got enough information to find where she was going. She found the bulletin board (it was relocated) and she looked at the listings for 11:00, "Let's see... the only thing for eleven is the talent show. Why would he want to see that?" she thought aloud as she followed the directions towards the show.

Once inside the barn where it was, she scanned the audience for her boyfriend. Seeing a pair of what she thought were a certain fox's ears, she walked down the aisle quietly so as to not alert him. She sat next to him, surprising him, "Sharla?! Ah'-" he started only to be hushed by the mammals surrounding them. He apologized to them and turned his attention back to the stage. He leaned over to her, "What're you doin' here?" he whispered, "Ah' wanted to see what you were doin' here." she whispered back. "Ah'll tell ya' later." was all he said. The two watched the various acts put on by the children at the show. There were two wolf cubs in the first act. In the next one, there were three bunny girls doing gymnastics with their older yet still young sister leading them. More acts passed, and they were exactly what you'd expect. "But... he seems to be enjoying it..." Sharla thought to herself as she tried to watch both him and the acts put on by the children. He seemed almost proud of them. He had a warm smile on, but his eyes showed a pained expression. They sat and watched the rest of the acts, until they ended at 11:30. As all of the lights came on and mammals started to leave, Sharla noticed Gideon was looking off at the stage. "What's wrong? Don't you want to go have some fun together?" she sat next to him again and took his paw in her hoof and squeezed it. "Are ya' alright? Giddy?" Sharla gave his paw another squeeze which seemed to get through to him, as he blinked and looked at her. "Wh-what? Ah'm sorry darlin', ah' was jus' thinkin'... about what happened all those years ago." he looked at the ground with a dejected look on his face. "Ah' just wanted to watch this because any other time ah'd come to the festival I'd be running a stand and wouldn't have time to come see the kits. But... the real reason is because when ah' was younger ah' never was brave enough to go up there. Ah'... acted big n' strong but ah' was only pretendin' so's people wouldn't mistreat me like they'd always been mistreatin' me jus' cuz' ah' was a- a- a fox." he droned on and squeezed his girlfriend's hoof back. Sharla could almost feel the hollowness that Gideon felt. It was not a pleasant feeling, wanting to do something but not being able to because of your own self. That's what she felt when she decided on being an astronomer rather than an astronaut. However, she might be able to become an astronaut sometime in the future if situations allowed. But Gideon would never be able to have a happy childhood ever again. That kind of thing hurts to your very core... Sharla's tear fell onto his knee and he looked up at her face, "Oh, darlin' don't cry over me! If anythin', ah'm glad things turned out the way they did." he said as he smiled and put his other paw under her chin. "W-why? You never got to experience the love of a Pa or have a real family. Y-ya' never got to be yerself' because we'd make fun of ya' and treat ya' like trash..." she cried and hugged him tightly. "None of that matters now," "But why?" "Because without any of that, I'd prolly never have you darlin'." He kissed the top of her head as embraced her. "Um, are you two almost done? I kinda need to close up..." the owner of the barn had stumbled in, "Is this a bad time?" He'd asked. They both stood up, "No, we're alright. We'll be leaving soon, and thank you for letting the kits use yer' barn, Sir." Gideon grinned as he led Sharla out of the barn. She could hardly see because she was still wiping her tears away. "Y'sure know how to make a girl cry..." she said solemnly as they walked together looking at what the festival had to offer. "Well, I'd call you a lady, not a girl. Ah'm sorry fer' makin' ya' cry." he rubbed her shoulder tenderly as they stopped and ordered some deep-fried rit-rats. "Ah' just can't believe you aren't upset about that! Ah' prolly would've let that gnaw at my brain forever!" She exclaimed as she sat down at a table set up in the food cart area. He sat across from her and scratched the back of his head, "Ah' don't see why. It's not that big of a deal now that Ah'm older... Ah' guess some mammals aren't bothered by some things like others are." he shrugged. "But you'll NEVER be able to have a good kithood! EVER! I want to do something fer' you now..." she shook her head. "Well, unless there's a machine that'll make me a kit agin', Ah' don't think there's anything you can do. Unless you want to treat me like a kit?" he grinned. "No." she laid her head on the table and groaned. Their order had been delivered to their table, and they indulged in the deliciousness that was a pile of deep fried candy. There seemed to be extra in the bowl. It was a note on the underside of the dish Sharla couldn't see, 'Good luck Gideon! Hope you have a great date ;)'. The wife of the vendor Seemed to be one of the recipients of gossip it seems. After they finished their candy he thanked them secretly, "Don't mention it son! I'm glad you're doing so many great things with your life now. Your parents would be proud of you." the ram running the stand replied. He was a distant relative of Sharla's he explained. He was happy to see *her* happy. They parted their separate ways after saying goodbye... Where was Sharla? Gideon looked around at the stands for her and saw her standing at the pop-gun range. She was trying her best to knock at least ONE bottle down, but she didn't seem to have any luck. Gideon strolled over and felt like laughing seeing her posed like she was a marksman or something. "What're you doin'...?" he stood next to her to see what she was aiming at, "Shhhh! I'm concentrating!" she waved a hoof at him and resumed her position and took a shot. "Well, you hit again young lady. But you have to KNOCK it down to win a prize! Would you like to try again or are you done?" the rabbit running the stand leaned back in his chair grinning. "No, thank you." she replied curtly and turned to whisper to Gideon, "I swear this thing is rigged. Normally I would never play one of these, but I saw a wolf pup playing and he hit every bottle but they still didn't go down! Ah've been focusing every shot at the same bottle too," she went to place the pop-gun down but Gideon grabbed it from her, "What're you doin'?" she squinted at him questioningly, "Ah'm gonna win you and that pup a prize, even if Ah' have ta' cheat..." he whispered back. He set his money down and took aim at a bottle, but just before firing he quickly aimed at a bolt holding the top shelf up and fired. The cork knocked it loose, and the shelf fell down knocking all of the other shelves down. Sharla and the wolf pup standing nearby watched in astonishment, while the rabbit jumped out of his chair and grabbed his hair in frustration. They all could see the bottoms of the bottles which clearly were rigged. He had put magnets inside of the bottles and placed magnets underneath the shelves. "Ah' believe you said 'you need to knock down the bottles to win a prize' or am Ah' wrong?" Gideon grinned as Sharla started cheering him on. The vendor guy wasn't so happy, "You filthy cheat! I could have you arrested! They wouldn't even think twice just because you're a FOX!" he turned and shoved a finger in Gideon's face and pushed harshly into his nose. Now, Gideon COULD'VE hurt the rabbit in self-defence, but somebody else did that for him. Sharla. She pushed Gideon aside and threw a punch so hard Gideon could've sworn he heard something crack. The rabbit fell backwards and started spluttering, "Now you've done it you miserable excuse of a mammal!" he pointed at Gideon thinking it was him who hit him. "I'm calling the cops! They'll get you-" "SHUT UP!" Sharla stood between her boyfriend (Gideon stood in front of the pup in case things got a little messy) and the loser, "He hasn't done anything except expose you for the CREEP that you are! You were basically stealing from people, not to mention CHILDREN! You're just angry because you were caught in the act, but you're taking yer' anger at yer' own stupid self on HIM!" She pointed at Gideon, "And you think they'll take him in because he's a FOX? I happen to know two of Zootopia's finest police officers, who also happen to be here today. You're lucky we aren't calling the cops on YOU for assault and theft!" she stomped and glared at him. That got through to him, "Wh-wh-what do you mean you're not calling the cops?!" he was still shaking, but it looked more like fear rather than rage. "Give us all of the prizes and we won't tell anybody about this little incident." Sharla said evenly. The buck nodded vigorously, "Okay okay, take what you want! Just don't report me! I-I-I can't have a criminal record!" he cried out nervously. Somehow, nobody paid attention to them.

Sharla and Gideon had Given the pup most of the prizes and suggested that he go back to his parents. He agreed and went on his way. They were walking along quietly but Gideon wanted to say something, "Why on earth did ya' HIT him?" he stopped walking after he asked. "Because that creep shouldn't treat you like that because of his own problems, let alone treat you like that because you're a fox!" she replied and shook her head, "Would you actually let somebody like that walk all over you?" she asked quietly. Gideon thought about it, "Well, if it was just me, Maybe. But you sure knocked the daylights outta that guy..." Gideon remembered that uncomfortable cracking sound from when she punched him. "Well, YEAH! He shouldn't have treated you that way!" she replied and started walking again. Gideon tried to keep up with her, "But Ah've never thought YOU of all people would ever get angry like... THAT." he slowed down to a walking pace after he made it to her side. She giggled, "Yeah... ah' was kinda scary, wasn't I? Wow, I got an adrenaline rush from all of that!" she grinned and took his paw in her hoof. "And hitting that guy... To be honest, I've never punched anybody. So that was actually pretty fun for me." She laughed. Gideon swallowed and thought to himself, "Ah'm either datin' the most amazin' girl ever or the craziest one ever..." he smiled back at her. "Ah' love you." "I love you too Giddy."They found Nick and Judy at a prize booth, Judy was exchanging her tickets while Nick was holding his stomach. "Judy!" Sharla called out to try and get their attention. Judy's ears caught her voice, and she looked, "Oh, hey guys! How're you enjoying the rides?" Judy asked, taking her prizes from the booth. "We haven't really been on any yet. In fact, none at all." Sharla replied gleefully. Judy and Nick looked confused but didn't seem to want to question it. "What happened to Nick?" Gideon sat across from them. Nick started, "Nick bet he could ride the power tower without throwing up. Nick lost the bet." he mumbled and laid his head on the table while groaning. "This big kit tried to tell me that I couldn't do it. He lost and he had to give me all of his tickets." Judy replied smugly. "Oh, that's okay. He can have some of ours." Sharla placed her half of the prizes in front of Nick. Nick and Judy looked amazed at a number of prizes they had acquired. "A brand new iCarrot phone?!" Judy exclaimed, "If I didn't know any better, I would take you both in for questioning!" she joked. "Eh, don't worry. We earned them!" Sharla replied and grinned. Gideon laughed nervously at her statement, "H-hey darlin', how's about we go on the Ferris wheel? It's the only thing I'd ride..." He planned to propose at the top of the wheel after it stopped. He knew the guy who runs it, so he knew he could trust him to stop it for them. "Okay! Let's hurry! I wanna see the sunset." she took his paw and started to run towards the Ferris wheel, "We'll see you two later!" she shouted to Nick and Judy. They waved goodbye to the two lovers and went back to sulking and being amazed by the prizes, respectively.

They found Nick and Judy at a prize booth, Judy was exchanging her tickets while Nick was holding his stomach. "Judy!" Sharla called out to try and get their attention. Judy's ears caught her voice, and she looked, "Oh, hey guys! How're you enjoying the rides?" Judy asked, taking her prizes from the booth. "We haven't really been on any yet. In fact, none at all." Sharla replied gleefully. Judy and Nick looked confused but didn't seem to want to question it. "What happened to Nick?" Gideon sat across from them. Nick started, "Nick bet he could ride the power tower without throwing up. Nick lost the bet." he mumbled and laid his head on the table while groaning. "This big kit tried to tell me that I couldn't do it. He lost and he had to give me all of his tickets." Judy replied smugly. "Oh, that's okay. He can have some of ours." Sharla placed her half of the prizes in front of Nick. Nick and Judy looked amazed at a number of prizes they had acquired. "A brand new iCarrot phone?!" Judy exclaimed, "If I didn't know any better, I would take you both in for questioning!" she joked. "Eh, don't worry. We earned them!" Sharla replied and grinned. Gideon laughed nervously at her statement, "H-hey darlin', how's about we go on the Ferris wheel? It's the only thing I'd ride..." He planned to propose at the top of the wheel after it stopped. He knew the guy who runs it, so he knew he could trust him to stop it for them. "Okay! Let's hurry! I wanna see the sunset." she took his paw and started to run towards the Ferris wheel, "We'll see you two later!" she shouted to Nick and Judy. They waved goodbye to the two lovers and went back to sulking and being amazed by the prizes, respectively.

The two had boarded the ride after Gideon had made sure that the ride would stop at the top. "Why, anything for my favorite baker!" the donkey replied. "Ain't Ah' the only baker ya' know?" Gideon smiled. "Yep! And you're the best, so why bother looking for other bakers?" Earl laughed. "Thanks, Earl. Say hi to the Missus fer' me." he thanked him as he boarded the ride went around a few times, but the sun hadn't started to set just yet. "What was that all about?" Sharla asked as the ride started up. "Jus' talkin' to a friend of mine." Gideon didn't want to divulge anymore because it was supposed to be a surprise (duh).

The ride went around a few times, but the sun hadn't started to set just yet. "C'mon Earl, make it stop RIGHT at the sunset..." he whispered to himself. They slowly rose to the top, but then the ride stopped. "Oh wow! It stopped at the right time!" Sharla laughed happily and took Gideon's paw and held it close to herself. "Y-yeah..." Gideon was nervous. It's now or never. "Sh-Sharla?" he stuttered. "Yes? What is it?" she didn't take her eyes off the sunset. It was the brightest and the darkest red she'd ever seen. "H-how would you like to see the colors of the sunset every day?" he mumbled. She laughed and looked at him, "Wait, 'see the colors of the sunset every day'? Are ya' talkin' about yerself'?" she smiled, "Yer' so goofy Giddy. That's what Ah' love about y-" she stopped when she saw the ring in his paw. She started stuttering, the rush of courage from standing up to the rabbit had disappeared instantly. "Y-y-y-ou aren't serious!" She covered her mouth. "Do you wanna marry me or...?" Gideon wasn't even looking in her direction. He knew what the answer woul- "Oh YES! Yes yes yes yes!" she cried and hugged him. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. And he dropped the ring. He gasped. "What?!" she looked at where he was looking. "Oh," she said quietly. She sat back in her place. He was just starting over the edge processing what she'd said. 'yes'. She said yes. He could hear her tears hitting the ride's seat. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, "It's not yer' fault ya' got excited, darlin'!" he tried to comfort her. "A-all you've ever wa-wanted to do was be happy and I RUINED IT!" she started bawling. "Ma' gawd we ain't even married and she's already being dramatic." he thought to himself. "We don't NEED a ring to be married," he whispered into her ear. "Oh, so we'll just forget the couple hundreds you spent on that thing?" she asked while still sobbing. "I- uh, didn't buy it." He wanted to kick himself. She DIDN'T need to know that. She stopped crying and looked at him, "Don't tell me you-" she started and he nodded. "Inherited..." he didn't know why, but he felt like laughing now. Only something like this would happen to him. Sharla however, started crying harder. "Calm down! It's just a piece of metal! At least YOU didn't fall!" he started to laugh now. He didn't know why he was laughing, he just WAS. She calmed down a bit. "Ah' love you more than a ring, Sharla. Believe me. I DON'T care about the ring. I'm just happy you said yes." he laid his head on her shoulder and rubbed her other shoulder. "I- I just hope somebody honest finds it..." was all she said.

After that attempt at proposing to her, they decided to regroup with Nick and Judy. By now, Sharla wasn't crying anymore. Gideon, however, was laughing his head off. "It's NOT FUNNY!" she elbowed him in the ribs. It didn't hurt because he had thick fat and if you had that you'd know how it is. "It is, actually." he wiped some of the tears of pure laughter away. The Ferris wheel was right next to the food vendors, so they found Nick and Judy pretty easily. Nick was eating a giant bowl of deep fried ice cream while Judy had a smaller bowl and was looking at the two wondering what was up with them. "Is something the matter?" she asked looking between them. "Did they get into a fight or something?" she thought to herself. "I saw you two on the Ferris wheel. You guys seemed to have a good time..." she looked a little dishearted. "Oh, it was great. For like, three seconds." Sharla replied sadly. Nick took a bite of ice cream and yelled. They all heard a crunching noise. He pulled the foreign object out of his ice cream. "Are you okay?!" Judy patted him on the back. "No! There was a piece of METAL in my ice cream!" he tossed it on the table. Judy picked it up with a napkin and wiped it off. "Oh, my G- No way..." Gideon was shocked. He took the ring from Judy and got on his knee. "This time, let's not drop it okay?" he joked. Nick and Judy gasped and cheered them on. All of the surrounding mammals clapped for them, as Sharla said 'yes' once again.

* * *

Remember how I asked you guys to report any errors? Well, this thingy I used to help get rid of my errors kiiiinnnnda messed up the order of what I wrote. So you would have like, the ending at the middle part. I hate that :c.


	13. Chapter 13 Wedding and Morning Sickness

Gideon straightened his bow tie while looking at his reflection in the waiting room, "How do Ah' look Travis?" he asked with a large grin on his face. "Like you're ready to get married, Gid." his best man gave him a thumbs up. "Ah'm so excited, I'm jitterin'!" Gideon clapped his paws together but looked down at his feet, "But did ah' have to wear shoes? These things hurt!" he complained.

"I don't think they would complain if you took them off. They are just shoes after all." Travis shrugged. "Anyways, where's your other best man? Ned?" "Nick." "Yeah, Nick. Why'd you get two best men again? I didn't even know you could..." Travis trailed off. "Oh, you can have as many mammals at yer' weddin' as you want! It's a weddin'! The more the merrier!" he exclaimed. Travis shrugged, "Whatever. If I had known I would've invited you-" "But ya' were afraid Ah' was still a jerk? It's okay." Gideon laughed, "Ah'm the one that was embarrassed, becoming a baker was hard! But ah' loved every second of it. And now Ah'm gonna marry the most beautiful ewe in all of the world," Gideon grinned again, "Nothing can go wrong! Because Ah' won't let it!" he laughed again.

Travis chuckled nervously, "Yeah, okay super-Tod, whatever. You're due to make an appearance in front of everybody now." he started to push Gideon in the direction of the podium, "Okay, okay. Ah'm goin'!" he laughed and started to run. "Don't run!" Travis fell flat on his face, "Oops. Sorry Trav!" Gideon slowed down to a jaunt, and took his place in front of all the people.

His ears picked up on a couple conversations, most of them were about Sharla and Gideon. He paid no mind to the people he didn't know and gave his attention to Judy's family. He didn't have a lot of relatives, so Judy's family picked up the slack in that department. All of the little ones waved to him and he waved back. He stood there watching all of the people and thought about how ten years really changed a lot in his life. Heck, in less than two years he was marrying already! There was a bit of backlash from the news. Sharla's step-father wasn't too pleased that she was getting married so quickly, while her _mother_ was ecstatic. Well, almost. She fainted. Anyways, Judy's family all crowded the two when they had found out about his proposal. Hugs were given and tears were shed (Stu). Gideon felt an odd sense of nostalgia thinking about those times. Not even three months ago. That's when it all happened. A lot of people were concerned about the timing of everything, but here they were! He wondered what was taking Sharla so long…

Meanwhile,

"Do you think he'll like my hair like that?" Sharla sat patiently waiting for her mother to stop messing with her head. "He'll like you any way you look, Sharla." Judy put a paw on her friend's shoulder.

Sharla looked down at that comment. In the past few weeks, Gideon had been progressively becoming more and more like a flower. He was opening up, showing his… loving side. He would kiss her out of the blue whilst in public, or pick her up and hug her like a doll. He told her it was just because he was so happy, he might as well show the world why he was. She was never good at that stuff, but if he wants to do it she might as well just let him do it. She didn't mind it, anyways. "Judy's right, Sharla. He'd be more than happy to let you know." Her mother had a slight smile as she pinned her daughter's hair back with a veil. "Okay, y'all don't need to keep telling me that!" she grumped, trying to hold back a smile. "It's time for YOU to make your way out to your future husband." Her mother nudged her, and they all made their way to the podium. Her step-father stood next to her, and whispered 'I love you' to her and she did the same. Judy and her mother took their places, while they waited for the music. Once it started they opened the doors and entered and walked slowly to where her beloved and the pastor were standing. She knew if she looked at Gideon she would have a hard time concentrating so she just looked straight ahead.

Gideon, however, was staring the entire time. " _Whoa. She looks amazing…"_ was all he could think. She took her place in front of him, and the pastor started to read their vows. Gideon wasn't paying attention. He was too busy picking apart Sharla's appearance. She had her wool pinned out of the way of her elegant yet strong face (All those years of training for being an astronaut had given her quite a bit of muscle) she also was wearing what looked like makeup. It wasn't heavy though, just enough to bring out her best features. Everything. He looked at the wedding dress that hugged her torso but was loose from the legs down, like a skirt. She was gorgeous. "… blah blah blah 'I do' blah blah blah" the pastor stopped talking. Shoot, what was he saying. "I-i- do." Gideon looked into her eyes. They had this sort of strength emanating from them. An intelligent kind of strength. He felt like he was falling in love all over again.

Sharla wasn't behaving any differently. Once she took her place across from him, she wanted to laugh. His hair had been combed so much it was flat against his head. He was wearing a white/tan tux with a caramel brown bow-tie. He had a single rose pinned to his chest right over his heart. He was wearing shoes from some reason. She didn't have to because nobody could see her feet. She looked at how his tux was being filled by his chub and muscle. She never thought she would say it, but she preferred a chubby guy over a fit guy any day. She thought about that one saying, 'opposites attract'. How true it was. She thought about how caring and gentle he was, and how willing he was to make her day. She looked into his deep blue eyes and was lost in the ocean that they were. His eyes were so full of happiness, she started to feel happy too. She remembered all of those times when she looked into them and saw that hurt little kit that hurt others to deal with the pain. He grew so much in body and in heart. His eyes were still the same, yet they weren't. She felt a warmness inside her chest. " _I really do love him… Not just what he's become, but who he is. I think I'll enjoy being married."_ she thought to herself. "Blah blah blah 'I do' Blah blah blah?" The pastor's words broke through her thoughts. "oh, I _do."_ Sharla breathed out.

"And with that, you may kiss the bride." the bunny and nodded. The two leaned in to kiss, but his muzzle hit her in the forehead. She grabbed his face and pulled it down and kissed him like she never kissed before.

(On the lips, duh. 'You shouldn't kiss somebody on the lips unless you're married!' _what one of Judy's sisters said._ )

Everybody cheered them on as they locked arms and strode down the hall and waved. "Where're you two going for your honeymoon?" "When are you having your first baby?" "What's it like kissing a girl?" Judy's siblings surrounded the two and followed them out of the church. "Honeymoon?" Gideon and Sharla looked at each other. They hadn't thought about that… "Well, we'll go where ever we can!" Gideon replied to the first question. "We'll have to talk about that later," Sharla answered the second question with a blush. "And as how to kiss a girl..." Gideon grabbed Sharla's hoof and pulled her close. All of the boys went 'ew' and all of the girls 'wow...'. Bon and Stu were waiting for the two at the car, "We're so happy for you, Gideon." Bonnie pulled them both in for a hug. Stu was blubberin' like a baby, "W-w-we'll miss you kids. You b-b-oth be sure to write!" he wagged a finger at them. "Oh Stu, they're MARRIED, not moving!" Bon shook her head.

"I know! It just feels like we'll never see them again!" Stu sobbed again and hugged the two, "You two take care of each other! That's what a couple does." he told them. "Yes sir." they both replied and laughed. Nick and Judy were also waiting, "So, it looks like you won't be needing me to be your wing man anymore." Nick grinned and got elbowed in the ribs by Judy. "We're all happy for you two!" Judy clapped her paws together and gave the two a hug each. "Yep, pretty soon you'll have to be coming to our wed-" Nick started, "Hahahaha! Nick, would you look at the time! We have to go back to Zootopia!" Judy cut him off, and started to pull him away. "Wait, you two are…?" Sharla gasped. Nick nodded. "Dating. Just after you two got engaged, I might add." Nick informed them all.

Well, if Gideon and Sharla's wedding turned on the waterworks for some, it opened the floodgates for all. "WHAT?!" Judy's parents gasped. Bonnie pulled Nick in for a bone breaking embrace, while Stu was reduced to a puddle of tears. Gideon and Sharla thanked everybody for coming to the wedding and got in the car with the 'just married' sign on the back.

Everybody was shouting their goodbyes as well as Gideon and Sharla. They drove off into the sunset (cliché, I know) and made plans. "So, where are we going for our honeymoon?" Sharla loosened the dress a bit, "This thing is so uncomfortable..." she complained. "Ah' know how you feel. These shoes are KILLING me." he kicked them off and tossed them in the backseat.

.

.

.

The happily wedded couple had moved in together at his house, taking what few possessions she… well, possessed, and moved them into the house. Things were going great so far. He worked the bakery, and she helped when she could. When she wasn't helping him, she was studying. Like, a LOT. Almost every night she was up late reading and writing down important notes.

He would always make her a cup of sleepy-time tea, and they would have whatever snack they felt like sharing. Unless it was meat, of course. He would try to coax her into going to bed, and she would fight to stay awake, "I'm fine, really. I need to get this all done." she would say. "Well, Ah' can't sleep without you in bed, so either you're coming with me or Ah'm staying up with you." he sat down across from her. "But you have work to do. REAL work." She groaned. "Make up your mind then." was all he would say. Even if she wouldn't come, he would pick her up bridal style and carry her upstairs to bed. One night, she told him, "Being married is awesome," she whispered. "It sure is, darlin'." he laughed. "Especially when you're married to a guy as awesome as you..." she finished and fell asleep in his arms. "The feeling's mutual." he kissed her forehead.

.

Sharla hadn't felt like going to work with Gideon today, so she stayed behind, "Okay, well if ya' need anything at ALL, call." he put a blanket on top of her where she was lying on the couch in the living room and started a fire for her. "I'll be fine Giddy, I just feel a little cold that's all." she replied.

"Well, If ya' get sick then how'll you be able to study? Yer' takin' the day off from everything." he commanded her.

"No studying, no working, no matter what." he wagged a finger and placed a kiss on her head. "But-" "No buts, either." he said as he walked out the front door.

She laid on the couch, thinking about watching TV. He said she couldn't study, which would require reading, but he didn't say anything about TV! She reached for the remote, but felt a rush of nausea run through her. She picked up a bowl that he had given her to throw up in. " _Why am Ah' sick? Ah' haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary."_ she thought to herself.

She picked up her cellphone and dialed Judy's number. "Hello?" Judy's voice came through clearly, "Heya, Judy. Are you busy?" Sharla asked quietly as to notupset her stomach.

"Not really, no. I'm at work but I can talk. Hang on, Nick? I'm talking on the phone, stop!" she heard Judy and Nick squabbling on the other end. "I take it Nick enjoys dating you?" Sharla laughed a bit. "I think it's a fox thing," Judy replied after finally getting Nick to leave her alone, "I swear, before he was irritating and handsome. Now he's irritating, handsome AND my boyfriend." the two shared a laugh. "So, what's up? You don't sound too well, if I might add." Judy asked and from what Sharla could hear, she had started moving some papers around.

"You must be a detective. I haven't been feeling well at all. Ah' don't know why, but it is the worst." Sharla mumbled into the receiver. "Well that's not good! Call my parents, they'll probably send something over for you!" "Gideon already called them, they're sending over one of your siblings with some things for me." "Aw, that was so sweet of him!" "I guess, but I don't want to bother your family..." "Don't worry about it, they don't mind. And besides, you'll be wanting to get sick more often after you have the soup." "Soup?" "Yeah, It's so GOOD. But mom only makes it for people that are sick because it's chock full of vegetables and pretty much anything that will make you feel better." "I see. Well, I'll have to stop by sometime and thank them for being so caring..." "What's that?" Judy asked the voice " _probably Nick"_ Sharla thought, "She says she hasn't been feeling well. She doesn't know. Ookay, I'll ask." Judy paused, "Nick just wanted to know what your symptoms were. Say's he can take a pretty good guess as to what's wrong." Judy's voice sounded like she was rolling her eyes. "Well, my stomach is feeling awful," Sharla started, but the Nick's voice on the other end called out before she could finish, "Pregnant." he exclaimed. Judy shushed him, "Nick! What is wrong with you? You don't just GUESS a woman is pregnant!" "Don't believe me? Go see a doctor." He replied. Sharla said a quick goodbye and hung up. "I need to see a doctor..." she thought aloud. She slowly got off the couch to go get ready to go to the hospital but a knock on the door had changed her destination. She opened the door to reveal a rabbit doe holding a box. "Mrs. Grey, I presume?" she asked with a grin. "Oh, thank you. Please come in." Sharla let the Hopps girl in and she set the box on the kitchen table. "First things first, you eat this soup now. Everything else can wait." the girl directed her. Sharla sat and slowly ate the soup. "Now what else… oh yeah, this spring weather is awful, so you're going to be wearing a large sweater. Do you have one or do you need to borrow one from Mr. Grey?" The girl asked. "I can borrow one. None I have are too warm." "Okay, so you're going to have the sweater… what else?" the girl pulled out a note, "Soup, check, sweater, check. Oh here we go! 'She is not to stay home. Bring her home, or stay with her so she won't be alone.' Okay, so you're either going to our house, or I guess I can stay with you." the girl put the note away. "Why can't I be alone?" Sharla questioned. "Mom says it's because people that are sick need constant care, and you won't be getting that alone." "Oh." "So which will it be, me or them?" the girl asked. "Oh, by the way I'm Mary." The girl grinned. "Are you from Paul and Peter's litter?" "Yep! Did one of them tell you?" "Yeah, I believe it was Peter. Or maybe it was Paul?" "It doesn't matter, they're both likely to tell you." she laughed.

"I'll go with you to your house, by I would like to stop at the hospital, if that's alright. You did drive right?" "Yep! I'll go wait for you out in the car, okay?" Mary left the house, while Sharla grabbed one of Gideon's sweaters from upstairs. She put it on, and it was like she was swimming in a sea of wool. Well, more than usual. She put out the fire and tried to remember to say sorry for putting it out after Gideon went to the trouble of making it. She got in the car, and they drove straight towards the hospital. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you going to the hospital?" Mary kept her eyes on the road. "I think Ah'm… pregnant." "What?! Wow! Good for you two! And if you're not, well, at least you know you're in good hands for next time!" Mary grinned, "Now I need to find a big strong guy to sweep me off my feet..." she mumbled. "Oh, you'll find yours someday. Believe me, Ah' never thought Ah'd get married. But now look at me." Sharla grinned. "You're right. But… are there any bears living in Bunnyburrows that are around my age?" Mary thought aloud. "Bears?" "Yeah… I wanna meet a handsome gentle-giant, like you did." Mary sighed. "Well… why don't you ask old man Clawsby? I'm sure they adopted a bear cub when they were younger. With any luck, they might have a grandchild." Sharla said with a wink. "O-okay." Mary seemed shy. "What's wrong?" "I already knew they have a grandson who was a bear." "But I thought you said that there weren't any your age living in Bunnyburrows?" "There aren't. He lives in Zootopia." "Oh, I'm so sorry." "Don't be, It's not your fault. He and I wanted to date, but he was afraid he would scare my parents. He was my first kiss." She blushed. "Oh wow. Do you keep in touch?" "Yeah. He runs a flower shop with his dad. He'll send special bouquets out to me every year on valentines day and my birthday." She replied with a smile. "Can't he come out here? You're both adults, I presume." "We are adults, but- there's not need for flowers out here, and I don't know what I could do for a living there… We're stuck between a rock and a hard place." "Why don't you go, and get a job with him?" "What?" "You're a Hopps bunny. Plants are your thing, and you might be able to help them more than you think." Sharla offered a bit of advice. Mary shook her head slightly, "I _could_ do that, but I don't want to be a florist for the rest of my life… I want to do something creative. Like painting murals." "Are you a good painter?" "I practice every night and I've worked for the town, painting buildings." "Then get a job painting the city with flowers. That'll be an advertisement for the flower shop, and you'll get paid for the painting!" Sharla exclaimed. "Well… I don't know…" "Oh, come on. What do you have to lose? You could ask if you can stay with Judy! If it doesn't work out, no problem. You just take a train back here!" Sharla clapped her hooves together. "I-I guess. Oh, whatever. I'll call him tonight and make arrangements. I'll also need to arrange things with my parents and-and Judy! Yes, I'll do just that! Thank you Mrs. Grey!" Mary beamed brightly, "You know, for somebody that's sick you seem to be doing well enough to help me plan out some good life choices." Mary laughed. "That soup help, for one thing. Another, my stomach isn't feeling well not my brain." They both laughed as they pulled in the drive way. "Here we are! Do you want me to go with you?" "I wouldn't mind if you did, sure." Sharla replied. The two got out of the car, and headed towards the hospital. _"_ _Let's just hope it's nothing wrong. I'd much rather a baby than to be actually sick..."_ Sharla thought.

* * *

I added this to the wedding scene, because I would feel pretty lame about just making a whole chapter that was less than 900 words. I also made the wedding quick, because it was supposed to be like they couldn't wait to tie the knot. I added Mary, because this whole thing has been pretty stale (I.e. any original characters that DO show up don't really have much backstory/personality.) Read and Review. And remember, GIDEON IS THE BEST FOX.


	14. Chapter 14 Baybeeeeee

The bakery was busy today. Far more than it had ever been before on any other regular day. Gideon couldn't figure it out and a lot of the women were giving him warm smiles.

" _This is getting' a lil' creepy..."_ he thought as he handed one of the ladies her order, "Oh, thank you Gideon. By the way, how's the married life?" the bunny asked him with a great big grin.

"Fine, Ah' guess. I've never been happier with any other decision before in ma' life." he smiled a little bit just thinking of his beloved. The bunny giggled a bit, "I can imagine! Soon you'll be a father I presume?" she… asked? Was that a question or a statement? "E-excuse me?" he looked at the bunny in surprise. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, "O-oh dear, I assumed you two would be having- never mind! Thank you and good day!" she nodded and waved goodbye and Gideon did the same. "Weird." was all Gideon said. He went back to his work and noticed the other mammals in the shop were avoiding eye contact with him. He felt uneasy about it, so he went in the back so they wouldn't have to look at him anymore. He knew what was going on. They still thought he was that stupid jerk of a fox. "After all Ah've done..." he sighed heavily. "Besides, I deserve it. Ah've only apologized to Sharla n' Judy. Not anybody else..." he started to knead some dough he got from a shelf that he had left it on to rise. "Not a thing Ah' do will change their minds. Nothin' seems to be good enou- What am Ah' sayin'? These people are in ma' shop buyin' MY goods. If they hated me, they wouldn't buy ma' stuff… I-i overthink things too much!" Gideon realized as he was punching the dough. Sometimes you need to punch things to relieve stress, so being a baker really helped out in that department. "Ah' just need to get some more sleep that's all." he thought aloud and stopped kneading the dough. Of course. He was bent outta shape because he's been stayin' up so much. He decided he would take tomorrow off and spend some quality time with Sharla. She did mention gettin' the outside of the house spiffed up. It really did need a lot of love, and she would be able to help him keep it lookin' nice. He finished kneading and distributed the dough between five pans and set them aside to rise. He returned to the front to make sure he didn't have any other customers waiting for him but it looked alright out here. He had a bell just in case, but sometimes he'll get some mammals that don't realize why the bell is there. Actually, lunchtime was almost over and a lot of mammals had left. Maybe Gideon would close up once they were all gone… He waited for some more mammals to leave, and then he waited a bit to see if any would come. Nobody came, so he decided to close up and head back home but just then the bakery phone rang and he answered it, "Gideon Grey's Really Good Baked Stuff, how can Ah' help you?" he waited for a reply, "Gideon, hi, Bonnie here. We're just letting you know Sharla's over at our place resting! We asked if she would like to come over and she said 'sure'. So if you're looking for her, she's here." she informed him. Gideon couldn't tell what it was, but there was somthin' off about her tone… "Alright, Ah'll be coming by now because Ah' closed up. How's she doin' by the by?" he asked. "Oh, she's doing fine, just fine. Don't worry about her, she's going to be alright! We have a surprise for you, so just swing by and pick her and the surprise." Bonnie replied. "A surprise?" he asked but she hung up. He held the phone away from himself and looked at it. _"Everybody is actin' weird."_ he placed the phone back of the receiver and went around locking the doors. When he was done he got in the van, "Might as well make some deliveries on my way there." he thought aloud as he started up the van and backed out.

.

He dropped off all of his orders on the way out to their house, so it was pretty worthwhile. He pulled in the driveway, exited the van and knocked on the front door. One of the younger bunnies answered the door and turned their back to him, "MOM! GIDEON'S HERE!" he shouted and left. Gideon assumed this meant he could come in so he did. The buck waved his paw in a motion for Gideon to follow him. He brought him to the living room where Sharla was, "Oh, there you are darlin'. How're ya' doin'?" Gideon went over and hugged her. "I'm f-fine. Really," she was positively glowing, "They've been taking good care of me, thank you for calling them Gideon." she kissed him on the cheek and he returned the affection. He picked her up off the couch, "Ah! What're you doin' Giddy?" she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Ah'm takin' you home! These guys can't have you all the time, it ain't fair." he grinned. One of the bunnies started to say something, "Oh, please be careful with her, she's-" but was cut off by the rest, "NO!" they all shushed her. He looked at them with a look of confusion but they only smiled back. "Somthin' wrong?" he asked looking around, "No, nothing." one of the older ones shook their head. Sharla buried her head into Gideon's neck. "Okay, well Ah'll be seein' y'all later, and tell Mrs. H Ah' said thanks fer' takin' care of her." he nodded and then left. He carried her all the way out to the van and placed her in the passenger side. When he got into the driver's side he spoke up, "Are you okay? You haven't been talkin' much." he buckled and started to back out of their driveway. "I'm fine. Just tired." she looked away. "Alright." he drove to their house, not botherin' to keep up conversation. "Why'd you close up early?" she finally started. "Because ma' wife wasn't feelin' well so Ah' decided to take care of her. It's not like we're hurtin' fer' money anyhow." he reached over and patter her hooves with his paw. "Ah' love you." he stated. "Me too..." she smiled a little. They both jumped a bit when they heard a siren behind them, and a cop pulled up behind them. Gideon quickly pulled to the side of the road and rolled down his window, "What'd we do?" he asked worriedly, "I don't know..." she looked equally upset. The officer slowly approached their window, "Do you two know why I pulled you over?" the donkey asked with a smile. "No, sir." Gideon tried to keep a calm tone but on the inside he was scared. "Well, it's against the law to have a child under the age of thirteen in the passenger seat." he laughed to himself. Gideon's worry melted away, "This is not a child, this is my _wife._ " he didn't want to sound disrespectful, but he was irritated. "Well, if you say so. But next time you really shouldn't let a child seat up front," he winked at Sharla, "Have a nice day." he went back to his car and passed them. Gideon was happy they weren't in trouble but he was also confused, "What was that all about? Was he hitting on you?" he looked at her, "What? No!" she grinned shyly, "Why would he ask if I was a child then?" "Yer' right… but, w-why'd he tell us that? We don't have any kits." he started driving again. Sharla knew what the officer was talking about, seeing as SOME mammals just love gossiping. She wouldn't be surprised if the whole tri-burrows knew already. While Gideon sat in quiet confusion and Sharla in quiet thoughts about how to break the news to him, they made it home in a little while.

Gideon ran to the other side and opened the door for her and let her out. He walked her to the door despite her protests. "Ah'm gonna make tea, and we're gonna watch a movie or play a game or whatever you want to do." he told her as he led her to the couch. "I don't care." she said quietly. He nodded and set to making tea in the kitchen. He also decided to put out cheese and crackers too, because who eats cheese and crackers without tea? It's just not cricket. After putting together a tray he took it out to her and they sat together on the couch.

She laughed a bit, "This is just like the first time Ah' came over..." she said as she picked up a cracker. "Oh yeah. You ate all of the crackers." he joked. She elbowed him as she ate a cracker, and they both laughed. "Well, Ah'm gonna need to eat a lot now since I AM a growing lamb." she joked. Gideon didn't think that was funny, "Why would he even do that? It's not like he wouldn't be able to tell it was you. Wasn't that officer Hoofton?" he looked like he was deep in thought. "Yeah, I was friends with his kids when Ah' was younger." "Then he'd have known it was you n' that yer' married to me." Gideon furrowed his brow. "Maybe he wasn't wrong." she tried to hide her smile by looking away. "What?" Gideon looked up at her, "About what?! Having a kid in the front seat?" he stood up, "Last time Ah' checked, we were the same age!" he looked confused. "Gideon, calm down." she tried to sound stern but she ended up laughing instead. This made him look irritated and confused, "Why is everybody always laughin' at me? Everybody's been actin' weird today, smiling and congratulatin' me! What's goin' _ON?_ " he exclaimed. He wasn't angry or anything, he was just was in the dark and thought they were making fun of him because he wasn't very bright. "Giddy, do you want me to tell you?" she looked at him nervously. He looked at her with desperation, "Yes please tell me." he took her hooves into his paws. "There was a kid in the front seat," she started but he groaned and turned to leave, "Let me finish!" she shook her hooves,

"It's with me." she said quietly. If he wasn't listening before he sure was now because he whipped around and grabbed her by the arms.

"What'd you say?" he was trembling. She nodded with a shy smile. His reaction was delayed a bit, but the delay gave Sharla time to prepare herself for it.

"WHA-HOOOOOO!" he screamed and picked her up and kissed her all over. "The baby!" she reminded him, "Oh, right!" he set her down gingerly. He got on his knees and with shaking arms embraced her, "H-how long have ya' known?!" he was shaking all over. "Just found out today. That's why Ah' was sick." she gave him a wide smile. He returned it, "Oh-oh-oh, Ah've waited so long… n' now Ah' don't have to anymore!" he lightly pressed an ear to her stomach. "Ah'm not due till December!" she laughed at his attempt to hear the baby, "It's not even that big yet!" "Oh." he calmed down some. He gave her another hug but made sure to be gentle this time. "But how'd the officer kn- oh yeah." Gideon stopped himself. Sharla started laughing hard at his solving of the mystery. He stood up and started towards the kitchen, "Where are you going?" she asked, "Ya' need more than cheese n' crackers! Yer' eatin' fer' two now!" he stopped after saying that, "Every time Ah' say that, Ah' get happy all over again!" he walked into the kitchen. Sharla never saw him again. Just kidding, he was in there for about two hours, after which he stepped out of the kitchen with an even larger tray filled to the BRIM with food. She felt like her eyes would pop just by lookin' at all of it. "Calm down, it's for all three of us!" he grinned and sat with her on the couch. "Shouldn't we eat at the table?" she asked. "No, we won't be able to be together. The table would separate us." he shook his head, "Ah' want to spend as much time with the two most important mammals in ma' life." he told her and smiled. Like any young male, he did it with a mouth full of food. "Ew! Yer' so gross." she closed her eyes. "What can Ah' say? Ah'm a wild animal!" he joked.

"They better not be like that…" she groaned at th joke. "What, devilishly handsome and funny too?" "Poorly mannered and the living stereotype of all boys." she said in a monotonous voice.

He rolled his eyes, "Ah' was kiddin'. I hope they're smart and beautiful like you." he replied. She felt bad for what had said, "I… Ah' want them to be like you too. Handsome and funny. You really are. And generous, and thoughtful and-and..." she looked at him, "I want them to be the most amazing mammal I've ever met, just like you." she finished.

Something most of clicked with Gideon, because he started to tear up while his bottom lip quivered, "Darlin'..." he put a paw on her face but she smacked it away, "Okay, and one of the most sensitive. In a good way." she leaned in and kissed him. "So, after this one how many more do you want?" he asked as they continued eating dinner. "Uh, what d'ya mean?" she looked at him. "Oh, Ah' was thinkin' of havin' twenty or maybe-" he was about to finish but she stopped him. "One at a time, Gideon." she placed a hoof on his arm, "But for now just let me eat." she started to gorge herself on dinner. Maybe she could eat all of it… "Ah'm gonna be a pa..." he thought aloud. "Uh, yeah. It's yours." she didn't know where this was going. "Ah' need to get a room ready and-and get things for it." he stood up and left the room. She thought he would be back soon, but after an hour of waiting, she just went to bed. It was already 6:58, and she was exhausted.

She couldn't fall asleep, however. She tossed and turned in bed for another hour. She checked the clock, "It's only 7:50 _?_ " she plopped back into bed. After a little while, the bedroom door opened slowly and Gideon poked his head in. "I'm still awake." she grumbled. "Ah'm sorry darlin'. Didj'ya get any sleep?" "No." Gideon opened the door and came in. He got ready for bed, and laid next to her. "So what were you doing?" she asked grumpily. "Oh, Ah' was cleaning up a room for the baby, just so that we wouldn't have to worry about it in the future." He wrapped an arm around her.

She wanted to be upset at him for ditching her, but she just snuggled closer to him. "Thank you." she whispered. She expected him to say something back, but all she heard was **NNNNNNNGGG** HHHHH. She sat up and saw he was already fast asleep. She resumed being grumpy. After a little while, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Gideon had fallen into a dream where he was playing with his family. Not just his wife and kits, but his grandkits too. That was a pretty good dream, if he said so himself.


	15. Babies! Chapter 15

"Hello, hello? Is this thing on?" Nick asked... you. Yes you, the one reading this.

"Nick, stop messing around. You're the one that wanted to tell them, so just tell them!" Judy stamped her paw a few times to show her impatience, "all right carrots. Chill. So, as most of you know the beloved Gideon and Sharla are having a baby!" Nick grinned wide as he wrapped an arm around Judy's shoulder and brought her closer, "well, so are we! Well, not as soon as they are. But anyway-" "Nick! This story isn't about us. It's about Gideon and Sharla! We're just supposed to be telling the readers why it's taking so long for a new chapter, not that we're having a baby." She scowled at her husband. Nick rolled his eyes, "fine. But just so you know, we foxes love our kits. Shame on me for bragging. Anyways, as you all know babies take a while, so this entire time Gideon and Sharla have been going through what we like to call 'pain and torture'. They're actually due any second now!" Nick finished. The couple walked off as Gideon came into view, "uh, s-sorry fer' takin' so long. Sharla's been busy with s-studyin' n' the baby hasn't been makin' it any easier fer' us y'know?" He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. His eyes widened a bit before he spoke, "o-oh yeah! Speakin' of Sharla, she's due today... Ah' think. Sorry fer' the wait." He chuckled some more before dashing away. Gideon came back shortly after, "oh, and if you couldn't guess, what ah' was doin' in the other room (from the last chapter) was build in' a nursery. Sorry fer' not explainin' that..."

He left after explaining.

-The Grey Household, three weeks later-

"Gideon, when did the doctor say the baby was due..." Sharla quietly asked whilst reading a scientific journal she needed to read. "Er, three weeks ago?" He faced her to answer her, "why d'ya a-" "because I'm tired, I'm hungry and Ah' always have to go to the bathroom!" She groaned. "I'm never having another baby in my life!" She started crying. Gideon walked over to hug her but she held up her book, "oh no, get away from me. The only reason I'm miserable is because of YOU. Back up jack!" She glared at him. "Yes ma'am.." he mumbled as he backed away quickly. Sharla glared at him for a while, until her bottom lip started to quiver. Gideon sighed, "now what darlin'?" He asked before she burst into more tears. She started to wipe them away "I'm sorry I've been so mean to you! You've only been trying to help and I've been such a- such a-" she continued to babble on and such, " **BLUHUBHUBHUB"** she weeped. Or dry heaved. He couldn't really tell. " _We went from me monologging to me being hit by a car to gettin' married. This has been a rollercoaster of events."_ Gideon thought to himself as he consoled his wife. When would the baby come?

-literally the next day-

Gideon had been sitting in the waiting room for about an hour now. He had just left for work, when he had gotten a call that sent chills up his spine." _Hello, Gideon Grey's real-" "Gideon. You need to come home at once." It was Sharla. She sounded off, like something happened. "My water broke. Get here now. Please, it hurts." She said in a quick breathy voice and hung up. Gideon never ran out of the bakery so fast before in his life. He didn't ever pay attention to the speed limit as he flew through the country side towards his house. He left the van running to leave as soon as possible. He had gotten in the house when he saw Sharla sitting on the couch clutching her head with one hand and her stomach with the other. He picked he up carefully and quick as can be took her to the van. He didn't even notice he was sweating billets as he drove even faster through the burrows. He heard sirens coming up behind him and started to slow down. Officer Tusker drove along side him as he rolled his window down, "Gideon, why're you speeding?!" He spoke into a megaphone towards the two. "Sharla's water broke!" He shouted back. "Pull over!" Was all the officer said. Gideon had complied, and after coming to a full stop officer tusker and Gideon moved Sharla to the police car, "its faster than your van an people will move when I put my siren on. Don't worry about her lad, she'll be in good paws." He tipped his hat and flicked the sirens on. Before Gideon could even blink the cop car was gone from sight, leaving a trail of dust in it's wake. Gideon got back into his van and followed after him, praying that there wouldn't be a complicated birth._ "Mr. Grey, you may come in now." The nurse had broken his reverie, but he only grinned shyly. He followed the lioness through the door and halls and they came upon the delivery room. He closed his eyes and opened the door. When he opened his eyes, he was standing next to her bed, staring into her face. She had a sleepy look to her face, as if she had never been in any pain at all. She was looking at a bundle in her arms, which he also looked at. It moved a bit, before some of the blanket came off revealing a pure white lamb. "It's a girl, Giddy." She whispered and held his paw. "A girl... she's beautiful. May I...?" He asked, but Sharla put her into his arms anyways. He swayed back and forth as he looked into her big bright blue eyes. "She has your eyes, as you can _see."_ Sharla and Gideon laughed softly at her pun. "Would you like to see your sons now?" She smiled softly. Gideon stopped swaying, "sons?". She nodded, and a nurse brought another bundle over, "she was born first, and they- all boys- were born after." The nurse informed him. He gave their daughter back to Sharla and took the bundle in his burly arms. He pulled back the material, revealing three foxes. One was bright red with black spots, another was darker red while the last one looked almost as pure white as his sister. "My boys..." Gideon's eyes started to fill with tears as he held his precious children close to him, " Ah' wanna hold 'em all!" He laughed as he placed them with Sharla and he hugged them all.

It truly was a happy time. Gideon felt proud of himself, as did Sharla. Other mammals in the room could feel a glow coming from the ewe and vulpine as the two hugged their dearly beloved together. Gideon couldn't ask for more!

Whew. Childbirth can be pretty crazy huh? As per usual, sorry for not updating in a while. I kinda moved temporarily. P.s. Three boys? This could be troubling for the young couple! Hopefully the sister will straighten them out!


	16. 16 The end of loneliness

-About a week from the birth of their kits-

"Mom, no. We aren't having any more. Yes I am positive. What do you mean? No. No. Yes. Bye, and tell dad I love him." Sharla hung up and groaned, "Why me?" She rubbed the sides of her head and looked over at her husband laying on the couch with all of the kits. Their kits. It still felt unrealistic, them being parents. One day he was hurting her, the next he's holding their children. She shook her head at the bad memory as if it was only a thought rather than a reality once upon a time.

She just sat in the kitchen and admired the tod of her life. He had just got back from work and was taking his turn with the kits. His timing was perfect, as Sharla had to go to work. Yes, work. She got the job. It was a night job, however, and she had to take the train to get there but at least she got herself a job. She should be happy, right? Well, Sharla's next fear besides having the kits was having to be a stay-at-home mom. She knew she had duties as a mother and a wife now, but this was something she'd worked hard for. She tiptoed over to him and cradled his face in her hooves, stroking his face with her thumbs. It woke him up, ' _oops'_ , "Darlin' I thought you had to leave..." he yawned as he held their daughter closer. "I do, I just wanted to see you all off. Sorry for waking you... it must've been a busy day..." she practically hummed as to not wake the baby. She grabbed her bag from behind the couch (a place none of the rowdy boys could get to) and kissed all of her babies (Gideon included) goodnight as she left to go to work. Gideon sat up and plucked all of the babies off of him to put them back in their cribs. Gideon and Sharla didn't even have to buy any cribs, as the Hopps family had made some as gifts. They were pretty much the only people that knew they had the kids yet. Gideon and Sharla weren't very good with news, if you couldn't tell. The red fox was about to head off to bed himself, when the phone rang. Gideon flew like lightning to stop it, but it still woke some of the wee babs. "Gideon. Grey." He barely managed to inform the caller. "Gideon?" Judy's voice flowed from the other side, "I'm sorry for calling so late, I just wanted to know how Sharla is doing. I heard she's due this wee-" Gideon held the phone out to the screaming babies as an answer. When he held it back to his ear, Judy was squealing with delight, "I'm so happy for you Gideon!" " _Please hang up_ thank you Judy, but Ah' have tah' tend to them now. Goodnight." "Oh, goodnight Gideon! I hope you have a wonderful night!" *click*. He sighed and picked up Ash (dark spotted fox) and Rusty (reddest fox) and tried his best to comfort them back to sleep. It took almost an hour of shushing and rocking, but they finally stopped crying and just layed in their cribs and stared at their papa. Next were Melody (ewe lamb) and Oliver (whiter fox). They had more easygoing temperaments compared to their younger brothers. Gideon thought about how ever since having the kits, it felt like weeks. It really wasn't, but who knew kits took so much time? He finally settled them down and put them back in their cribs, "Shhh, shhh, it's alright, yer' paw' isn't going anywhere..." he mumbled as he headed up to his room.

Babies were hard work, but he still loved the responsibility and his kits.

-the next morning-

Gideon woke expecting screaming and crying coming from all of the babies downstairs, but he was grateful to hear nothing. He quietly headed downstairs to make breakfast for himself and Sharla, who would be getting back any second now. He was pleasantly surprised to find her sleeping on the couch. He left her to sleep and started to make some camomile tea and oats for her. She deserved a surprise for working so hard towards her goal. "Gid?" He heard her tired voice as he brought the tray out to her, "right here, darlin'." "Gideon, can I ask you something?" She bit her lip as she took the tea and sipped it. "You wouldn't want to be a stay at home pa, would you?" She avoided eye contact with him as she asked bluntly. A few seconds passed but she could still feel his warm blue eyes trying to look into her steel blue eyes. "Nnnnnnot really... but why do you ask?" He held one of her hooves in his paw trying to comfort her. "I-I thought I understood t-the job I was taking on. But I found out last night that I'd have to leave months at a time, rather than just like a regular job." She felt like a moron. She couldn't leave her babies and her husband... "Go." Gideon told her with a solid voice. She looked up expecting anger but she found his soft expression, "Dont give up. Ah' gave up long ago and became a jerk. Ah' can't imagine what it'd be like if ya' gave up after all yer' hard work." He took the tea from he and held both her hooves now, "an'-an' you might never get another chance like this again. It's a golden opportunity an' Ah' can't let you just give up!" "But the kits-" she felt like a lump was in her throat. "When do you leave?" He hugged her close to himself. "Next month..." Sharla whispered and looked down at the ground in shame. "That's plenty a' time. Ah' don't intend on extinguishin' yer' dreams, but fulfillin' em'." Gideon carried her to bed so she could sleep, and got ready for work. " _I can handle her being gone... I think. I hope_."

 _-intermission-_

It had been 3 days since she broke the news to him, and its all he could think about. Work today was as busy as could be. All of the customers were women (not like many males came, but there were _NO_ men today.) all of them gave Gideon funny glances. One Ms. O'hare inquired about Sharla's condition. Gideon had told her that she was fine, but she pressed on, "when is she due?" "She isn't anymore." Gideon replied. All of the women gasped and froze in place, "you mean they're here?" One of them asked. "Yeah." He shrugged. All of them crowded asking how many, how long, when, how happy they were and who'd they look more like. He tried to calm down the eager ladies, but by the end of his open time, he was pooped. They talk a lot.

He had a delivery to make to the Hopps so he wasn't going straight home. He was thinking about just putting it off for tomorrow but then the phone rang, "Howdy, Gideon Grey's really good baked stuff, how may Ah' help you?" "Gideon, it's Sharla. Bonnie just called and said she... had something for us. She'd like for you to head over _right now_." Gideon thought he heard voices in the background, but he didn't pay any mind to it. "Will do, see you later darlin'." "Love you! And the babies are fine, so don't worry." She hung up, and he left to make the delivery.

" _Wonder what she could be givin' is this time... they've already helped us so much already..."_ he pondered to himself as he drove down their drive. He had to load up a trolley to tack the pies to the house since they ordered quite a lot of pies. He didn't see any lights on in the windows of their house as he approached. He started to feel like something was up, and he started using his sight and smell as a result. He knocked on the front door, an' Travis' little girl Lily answered, "Giddy! He's here!" She squealed as she latched onto his leg. "Wha-?" He looked up using his night vision but the lights flashed on before he could see anything, "surprise!"

Gideon stood for a while just staring. Sharla, Travis and his wife and newborn son, Judy, Nick, Sharla's parents and brother and of course the Hopps family. He felt like a little kit getting stage fright. "What're ya' all doin' here?!" He was looking between them all. Travis was first to speak up, and he sounded a little miffed, "throwing you and your girl a party to congratulate you on having kids, for being a good friend, for being the best baker and getting out of the hospital, to name a few." He listed off the top of his head, "of which most of us were kept out of the LOOP." He squinted at Gideon. His wife pinched his neck, "Trav, calm down. You're a grown weasel so act like it." She whispered into his ear. "I know, it's j-just he's changed so much..." Travis looked like he was in pain. "That's right," Bonnie and Stu nodded in unison, "you've matured into a responsible, considerate Tod. Sharla is lucky to have you. However, if would've been nice to know these things." Bonnie walked over and hugged him. Stu shook his paw, and a bunch of the smaller kits showered him with 'thank-you's'.

"Thank y'all, but that can't be the only reason fer' all of this, can it?" Gideon picked a bunny from his head and placed him back into his mother's arms. Sharla was next to speak up, "well... not entirely. When... when they told me about their plans, I mentioned my going away next month and-" She trailed off. Stu picked up for her, "well, when we heard that, we decided to get together everybody we could and tell you." "Tell me what?" Gideon raised an eyebrow. "Tell you that we're here. Your friends and family. We're proud to call you our son-in-law. And a friend. When we heard Sharla decided to go out there into the work field, and you decided to stay here, well we couldn't just do nothing." Sharla's mother answered while holding her granddaughter.

Gideon didn't know what to say.

" _My family"_ was being replayed in his head over and over. He hadn't heard those words in such a long time they felt foreign. He knew Sharla and his children were family, but to have friends trust a fox enough to call him family? It meant something to him.

"Gideon? What's wrong?" Sharla questioned with concern. He looked up at them all with a grin on his face, "you wanna know what's wrong? Why haven't we started the party yet?!"

- _Fin...?-_

Sorry for the wait. I just got tired of the stories about Gideon that were one or two pages long. And keep an eye out for stories about Melody, Oliver, Rusty and Ash! Thank you for all of the patience, commitment, enthusiasm and love for Gideon. He really is an interesting character! Please let me know what you think of this ending, if it was cheesy, boring, lame or full of plot inconsistencies.


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